Dermochelyidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of sea turtles which has seven extinct

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

and one extant genus, containing one living species, the leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''). The oldest fossils of the group date to the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

Classification of known genera

The following list of dermochelyid species was published by Hirayama and Tong in 2003, unless otherwise noted. * '' Arabemys crassiscutata'' * †'' Eosphargis breineri'' * '' Mesodermochelys undulatus'' *Subfamily Dermochelyinae ** †'' Cosmochelys'' ** '' Dermochelys coriacea'' – leatherback sea turtle ** †'' Psephophorus'' Psephophorus NT small

Phylogeny

Evers et al. (2019):

References

Bibliography

External links

Family Dermochelyidae (Leatherback turtles) from Turtles of the World by C.H. Ernst, R.G.M. Altenburg & R.W. Barbour
{{Authority control Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger Turtle families Santonian first appearances Extant Santonian first appearances