CHECKLIST OF REPTILES OF MEXICO 13 



Suborder Atheca Cope 



Athecae Cope, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. 19, 1870, p. 235. 

 Families. — One. 



Family DERMOCHELYIDAE * Fitzinger 



Dermatochelydae Fitzinger, Systema reptilium, 1843, p. 30. 



Genera. — One. 



Range. — Tropical oceans of the world. 



Genus DERMOCHELYS Blalnville 



Dermochelys Blainville, Bull. Soc. Philom., 1816, p. 119. 



Genotype. — Testudo coriacea Linnaeus. 



Range. — World-wide, in tropical oceans and occasionally into tem- 

 perate waters. 



Species. — As many as three species (or subspecies) may be valid. 

 The species has been recorded in Mexico only from the western coast, 

 although Atlantic records are to be expected. 



DERMOCHELYS CORIACEA • (Linnaeus) 



Testudo coriacea Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 350. 

 Dermochelys coriacea, Blainville, Bull. Soc. Philom., 1816, p. 119. — Boulenger, 



Catalogue of the chelonians . . ., 1889, p. 10. — Deraniyagala, Tetrapod 



reptiles of Ceylon, vol. 1, 1939, pp. 38-102, figs. 12-34.— Schmidt, Marine 



Life Occ. Pap., vol. 1, No. 3, 1945, pp. 7-10. 

 Sphargis coriacea schlegelii Garman, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 25, 1884, p. 303 (type 



unknown; type locality, tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean, here restricted to 



Guaymas, Sonora). 

 Dermochelys schlegelii, Stejneger, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 58, 1907, p. 485. 



Type . — Unknown . 



Type locality. — Palermo, Sicily, by present restriction. 



Range. — Pacific coast and probably the tropical Atlantic coast. 

 Recorded definitely from Sonora: Guaymas; Baja California: Los 

 Coronados Islands. 



' Actually the first family name proposed for this group was Sphargidae Gray (Ami. Philos., vol. 10, 1825, 

 p. 212), based upon the genus Sphargis Merrem, 1820, a junior ssmonym of Dermochelys Blainville, 1816; 

 both genera are based upon the same tjT)e, Testudo coriacea Linnaeus. Many taxonomists retain the oldest 

 family name regardless of the status of its type. We believe there is a certain degree of error courted by 

 such a procedure, however, inasmuch as a family name based upon a generic name later found to be a junior 

 homonym of an earlier name in another family would, very unfortunately, be preserved; and what if the 

 senior homonym had also served as a type for its family? It seems to us that only currently valid generic 

 names should be available as types for family names, and that all synonyms and homonyms should be 

 regarded unavailable for that purpose. 



• A common arrangement restricts coriacea to the Atlantic, schlegelii to the Pacific, either as species or .sub- 

 species. We are unable to find that anything more than geographic probability has led to such arrangement* 



