Amphibien XXVII. Fig. 1. Fig. 2.-Tortue d´une grandeur colossale

Title

Amphibien XXVII. Fig. 1. Fig. 2.-Tortue d´une grandeur colossale

Description

Two illustrations of sea turtles. Fig. 1 Tortue franche ou Mydas / Mydas giant tortoise (Testudo Mydas). Fig. 2 La Tortue Caouane / The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). Description of these two figures in German and French on a separate sheet.

ca. 1840

Artist

Anonymus

Historical Description

With the exception of the polar regions and high mountains, turtles colonize all continents and oceans. They can be found in various natural habitats, in tropical forests and swamps, in deserts and semi-deserts, lakes, ponds, rivers, brackish water areas and seas, in temperate, tropical and subtropical climate zones. In Europe there are only nine autochthonous species apart from the sea turtles, four land and five water turtle species. They belong to the Sauropsida order and first appeared more than 220 million years ago in the Carnian (Upper Triassic). They range from Mediterranean land turtle species, gopher or desert tortoises and the particularly numerous, smaller water turtle species in North America and Southeast Asia to large river turtles in South America, giant tortoises on some island groups, soft-shelled turtles in Asia and snake-necked turtles in Australia, right up to the largest, the leatherback turtles, which form a family of their own alongside the sea turtles.