EMYSystem Text Only Order Page: TESTUDINES
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order.......... TESTUDINES (turtles, tortoises and terrapins)
family
subfamily
genus
species
family list
Carettochelydae
Chelidae
Cheloniidae
Chelydridae
Dermatemydidae
Dermochelyidae
Emydidae
Kinosternidae
Pelomedusidae
Platysternidae
Testudinidae
Trionychidae
- Original Description
Linnaeus 1758 : 194
Synonyms
Cinosternoidea (original name)
Common names
turtles, tortoises and terrapins
Distribution
Marine species in all temperate and tropical oceans of the world; terrestrial/freshwater species on all continents except Greenland, Antarctica and New Zealand.
Comments
Bour and Dubois 1984c believed that the proper name of the order shold be Chelonii Brogniart 1800 : 80; however, Smith and Smith 1979 and Dundee 1990 : 403 argued in favor of the order name Testudines. Gaffney 1975b studied the phylogeny of the order and generated a new higher classification; he recognized two Infraorders: Pleurodira Cope 1864 : 181; as Pleurodera, including the families Chelidae and Pelomedusidae, and Crytodira Cope 1868a : 119, including all other families. Mlynarski 1976 reviewed the fossil forms and their classification. Bickham and Baker 1976a and Bickham and Carr 1983 presented a phylogeny based on karyotypes (see below). Wermuth and Mertens 1977 presented synonymies for most of the living species. Pritchard 1979 summarized available information on living turtle identification and some aspects of their biology. Pritchard (in Harless and Morlock 1979) reviewed the zoogeography of the higher taxa. Chen et al. 1980 presented a phylogeny of most families based on plasma albumin differences. Smith and Smith 1979 summarized the taxonomic history of the order, as well as reviewed all Mexican taxa. Cogger et al. 1983 reviewed the literature on all living Australian species. Gaffney 1984 reviewed the history of higher classification of turtles. Pritchard and Trebbau 1979 reviewed all living taxa found in Venezuela. Indian species are reviewed by Tikader and Sharma 1985 and Das 1991. In a general review of turtles, Obst (1985 in German, 1986 in English) provided a list of all species and subspecies. Iverson 1986b reviewed the distributions of all living species. Mao et al. 1987 studied the phylogenetic relationships of several families based on immunological cross-reactivity of serum albumins. South African species are reviewed by Boycott and Bourquin 1988. Gaffney and Meylan 1988 published a phylogeny of all genera (see below); however, Dryden 1989 questioned the monophyly of the sea turtles (Chelonioidea = Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae) as well as the Cryptodira. Yin et al. 1989 compared the chemical and physical properties of blood albumens in six families of turtles. King and Burke 1989 listed nearly all species. Ernst and Barbour 1989 summarized much of the available information on the biology of most species. Gaffney et al. 1991 provided a phylogenetic analysis of living and extinct turtle higher taxa.
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