Comprehensive Description
provided by Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology
Caretta remivaga Hay, 1908
[= Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829); fide, Schmidt, 1953:107, Zug et al., 1998:653.1]
Hay, 1908, Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus. 34(1605):194, pl. 10: figs. 1–3; pl. 11: fig. 5.
Holotype: USNM 243393 (formerly USNM Osteo 9973), adult skull and mandible, sex unknown, CBL 144 mm; collected by Francois Sumichrast, date unknown; recataloged Apr–Jun 1984 (see “Remarks”).
Type Locality: “Ventosa Bay, Mexico” [Bahia Ventosa in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico].
Paratype: USNM 220820 (formerly USNM Osteo 29354) (adult skull, sex unknown, CBL 141 mm); locality, collector, and date unknown; originally cataloged 1 Dec 1893, recataloged May–June 1981.
Etymology: The name remivaga is from the Latin remigulus, a rower, and vago, to wander, in reference to the wide range of this species.
Remarks: The holotype was received in 1870 and incorrectly numbered USNM Osteo 8073 by staff of the former Division of Comparative Anatomy; that number was originally assigned to a Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) in 1868. Subsequently the specimen number was corrected to USNM Osteo 9973 in the former Division of Comparative Anatomy and so listed by Cochran (1961:227).
- bibliographic citation
- Reynolds, Robert P., Gotte, Steve W., and Ernst, Carl H. 2007. "Catalogue of Type Specimens of Recent Crocodilia and Testudines in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution." Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 1-49. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.626
