Olive Ridley Sea Turtle - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The olive ridley was first described as Testudo mydas minor, Suckhow, 1798. It was later renamed Chelonian olivacea, Eschscholtz, 1829, and eventually Lepidochelys olivacea Fitzinger, 18431,5. Because Eschscholtz was the first to propose the specific epithet olivacea, though, he was credited with the valid name Lepidochelys olivacea Eschscholtz, 18291,5. The genus name is derived from the Greek words lepidos, meaning scale, and chelys, which translates to turtle. This could possibly be a reference to the supernumerary costal scute counts characteristic of this genus 1.The etymology of the English vernacular name olive is somewhat easier to resolve, as its carapace is olive green in color6. However, the origin of ridley is still somewhat unclear. Lepidochelys is the only genus of sea turtles containing more than one extant species; L.olivacea and the closely related, L. kempii (Kemp’s ridley) 1.