Leatherback Turtle

Leatherback sea turtle Temporal range: Holocene 0.012–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Clade:	Americhelydia
Family:	Dermochelyidae
Subfamily:	Dermochelyinae
Genus:	Dermochelys Blainville, 1816
Species:	†D. coriacea
Binomial name
Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761)
Synonyms
List of synonyms Testudo coriacea Vandellius, 1761 Testudo coriaceous Pennant, 1769 (ex errore) Testudo arcuata Catesby, 1771 Testudo lyra Lacépède, 1788 Testudo marina Wilhelm, 1794 Testudo tuberculata Pennant, 1801 Chelone coriacea Brongniart, 1805 Chelonia coriacea Oppel, 1811 Testudo lutaria Rafinesque, 1814 Dermochelys coriacea Blainville, 1816 Sphargis mercurialis Merrem, 1820 Coriudo coriacea Fleming, 1822 Scytina coriacea Wagler, 1828 Dermochelis atlantica LeSueur, 1829 (nomen nudum) Sphargis coriacea Gray, 1829 Sphargis tuberculata Gravenhorst, 1829 Dermatochelys coriacea Wagler, 1830 Chelyra coriacca Rafinesque, 1832 (ex errore) Dermatochelys porcata Wagler, 1833 Testudo coriacea marina Ranzano, 1834 Dermochelys atlantica Duméril & Bibron, 1835 Dermatochelys atlantica Fitzinger, 1835 Dermochelydis tuberculata Alessandrini, 1838 Sphargis coriacea var. schlegelii Garman, 1884 Dermatochaelis coriacea Oliveira, 1896 Sphargis angusta Philippi, 1899 Dermochelys schlegelii Stejneger, 1907 Dermatochelys angusta Quijada, 1916 Dermochelys coriacea coriacea Gruvel, 1926 Dendrochelys (Sphargis) coriacea Pierantoni, 1934 Dermochelys coriacea schlegeli Mertens, Müller & Rust, 1934 (ex errore) Chelyra coriacea Bourret, 1941 Seytina coriacea Bourret, 1941 Sphargis schlegelii Bourret, 1941 Dermochelys coriacea schlegelii Carr, 1952 Dermochelys coriacea schlegelli Caldwell, 1962 (ex errore) Dermochelys schlegeli Barker, 1964 Dermochelys coricea Das, 1985 (ex errore)

The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle, is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh. Dermochelys is the only extant genus of the family Dermochelyidae.

D. coriacea is the only species in genus Dermochelys. The genus, in turn, contains the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae.

Domenico Agostino Vandelli named the species first in 1761 as Testudo coriacea after an animal captured at Ostia and donated to the University of Padua by Pope Clement XIII. In 1816, French zoologist Henri Blainville coined the term Dermochelys. The leatherback was then reclassified as Dermochelys coriacea. In 1843, the zoologist Leopold Fitzinger put the genus in its own family, Dermochelyidae. In 1884, the American naturalist Samuel Garman described the species as Sphargis coriacea schlegelii. The two were then united in D. coriacea, with each given subspecies status as D. c. coriacea and D. c. schlegelii. The subspecies were later labeled invalid synonyms of D. coriacea.