Dermochelys coriacea, , Sindaco and Jeremcenko, 2008

Bauer, Aaron M., DeBoer, Jonathan C. & Taylor, Dylan J., 2017, Atlas of the Reptiles of Libya, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 64 (8), pp. 155-318 : 173

Dermochelys coriacea ( Vandelli, 1761:7, pl. 2)

1761 Testudo coriacea Vandelli, Epistola de Holoturio , et Testudine coriacea ad Celeberrimum Carolum Linnaeum Equitem naturae curiosum. Dioscoridem II. Typographia Conzatti, Patavii [Padua]. 12 pp., 2 pls.

HOLOTYPE.— Museo Zoologico , Università degli Studi di Padova , no number (fide Fretey and Bour 1980), “maris Tyrrheni oram in agro Laurentiano” [Tyrrhenian Sea coast at Laurentum], restricted to “Palermo” without comment by Smith and Taylor (1950b). Fretey and Bour (1980) noted two possible specific sites that could have been intended and, therefore, generalized the type locality to “la côte romaine ( Italie), Mer Tyrrhénienne, Méditerranée occidentale.”

Dermochelys coriacea, Sindaco and Jeremčenko 2008:76 .

DISTRIBUTION.— Widely distributed in tropical to colder waters of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, including the Mediterranean Sea, although no regular nesting takes place in the Mediterranean. Several nearshore records from Mediterranean Sinai and Egypt west of the Nile Delta. There is a single reported Libyan record of a beached individual from Al Khowda Beach ( Hamza et al. 2009).

Libyan Records (Map 3): TRIPOLITANIA: TRIPOLI: 44: Hamza 2010. SIRTE: 169: Hamza et al. 2009. “ Sella ”: Capra 1949. CYRENAICA: BENGHAZI: 356: Capra 1949.