Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Aidek, Ahmad E., Saad, Adib, Jablonski, Daniel, Esterbauer, Hans & Fritz, Uwe, 2024, Turtles and tortoises of Syria: Diversity, distribution, and conservation, Zootaxa 5506 (2), pp. 151-193 : 159

Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758)

Green Turtle, Green Sea Turtle ( Fig. 7 )

IUCN Red List Category: Endangered (EN A2bd); Mediterranean subpopulation: not assessed.

Type locality: “Insulas Pelagi: insulam Adscensionis.” Restricted to Ascension Island by Mertens & Müller (1928) .

Type specimens: Uppsala Zoological Type Collection , Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, UPSZTY 19, 26, 231, syntypes .

Chorotype: Circumglobal (Cosmopolitan).

First record for Syria: Between Latakia and Jabla ( Kasparek 1995).

Citizen science record: Ras Al-Baseet (iNaturalist 2023).

Distribution in Syria: Foraging and nesting in Syria. Chelonia mydas is found off the Syrian coast in different ages throughout the year. Some dead turtles were also seen at the beaches of Ras Al-Baseet, Jabla, Shati’ Afamia, Al-A’waj. Nesting has been reported for many sites on the sandy beaches at (1) Ras Al-Basit, (2) Um et-Toyour, (3) Wadi Kandil, (4) Latakia beach (Shkaifat and Sanawbar), (5) Banias ( Rees et al. 2008b, 2009, 2010; Saad et al. 2010, 2020; Saad 2012; Fig. 8 ). There are four records in the sea off Latakia ( Halpin et al. 2009), one at Ras Al-Basit (iNaturalist 2023).

Remarks: Syria is considered the third-most important country for C. mydas nesting in the Mediterranean, after Türkiye and Cyprus ( Rees et al. 2010; Casale et al. 2018). More than 85 turtles stranded during 2005 on the Syrian coast, the majority were green turtles ( Saad et al. 2006; Saad & Rees 2020, 2022). Morphological malformations in green turtle embryos and hatchlings were studied at Latakia Beach ( Rees et al. 2021). Syrian C. mydas belong to the Mediterranean Regional Management Unit ( Wallace et al. 2023).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Green Sea Turtle, Chelonia mydas, Latakia beach. (A) Nesting; (B) hatchling (photos: Alan F. Rees/ ARCHELON).

FIGURE 8. Nesting sites of Chelonia mydas in Syria. Black circles: previous records, blue circle: recently confirmed previous record.