Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T19:13:13.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The first report of a loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta nest on the central Tyrrhenian coast (western Mediterranean)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2009

Flegra Bentivegna ,
Gianluca Treglia  and
Sandra Hochscheid
Flegra Bentivegna*
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121 Naples, Italy
Gianluca Treglia
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121 Naples, Italy
Sandra Hochscheid
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121 Naples, Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: F. Bentivegna, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121 Naples, Italy email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Here we report for the first time on a loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta, which laid 92 eggs on the south-west Italian coast on 11 July 2002. During the 64 day incubation period the nest was threatened by inundation and hence, it was transferred on the 28th day. The hatching success was 49.4% and all live hatchlings entered the sea. Unhatched eggs were opened to determine at which developmental stage embryonic death occurred. This analysis confirmed that most of the embryos died in the first few days after laying and that the transfer of the nest did not affect embryonic development. This was the third of three unusual nesting events in the western Mediterranean in the years 2001–2002.

Keywords

nestingCaretta carettaembryonic stageincubation
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 1 , January 2008 , e14
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bentivegna, F., Ciampa, M., Mazza, G., Paglialonga, A. and Travaglini, A. (2003) Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in Tyrrhenian Sea: trophic role of the Gulf of Naples. In Murgaritoutis, D. and Demetropolous, A. (eds) Proceedings of the First Mediterranean Conference on Marine TurtlesRome24–28 October 2001. Nicosia: Barcelona Convention - Bern Convention - Bonn Convention (CMS), pp. 71–75.Google Scholar
Delaugerre, M. and Cesarini, C. (2004) Confirmed nesting of the loggerhead turtle in Corsica. Marine Turtle Newsletter 104, 12.Google Scholar
Demetropoulos, A. and Hadjichristophorou, M. (1995) Manual on marine turtle conservation in the Mediterranean. UNEP(MAP)SPA/IUCN/CWS/Fisheries Department, Manre, Cyprus 77 pp.Google Scholar
Encalada, S.E., Bjorndal, K.A., Bolten, A.B., Zurita, J.C., Schroeder, B., Possardt, E., Sears, C.J. and Bowen, B.W. (1998) Population structure of loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting colonies in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as inferred from mitochondrial DNA control region sequences. Marine Biology 130, 567–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margartoulis, D. et al. (2003) Loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean Sea: present knowledge and conservation perspectives. In Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E. (eds) Loggerhead sea turtles, Washington: Smithsonian Books, pp. 175–198.Google Scholar
Miller, J.D. (1985) Embryology of marine turtles. In Gans, C. et al. (eds), Biology of the Reptilia, Vol. 14a Development, New York: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 269–328.Google Scholar
Miller, J.D. (1997) Reproduction in sea turtles. In Lutz, P.L. and Musick, J.A. (eds), The biology of sea turtles. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 51–81.Google Scholar
Tomás, J., Mons, J.L., Martín, J.J., Bellido, J.J. and Castillo, J.J. (2002) Study of the first reported nest of loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, in the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 82, 1005–1007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar