Chelonia (genus)

Chelonia is a genus of sea turtles that include a only living species, the Chelonia mydas (green sea turtle).^[2][3] The type species, C. mydas, is currently endangered. This genus arose in the Late Cretaceous, about 72.2 million years ago.

The genus Chelonia was named by the Alexandre Brongniart, in 1800. The type species, Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) was originally named as Testudo mydas by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.^[4] But a few years later, it was suggested as a junior synonym of C. mydas.^[5]

A few years passed and then, in 1832, the first extinct species of the genus Chelonia, C. hoffmani, was named. It is known from a 3D fossil dating from the Maastrichtian.^[6] One of the most recent species of the genus is C. gwinneri from the Late Oligocene.^[7] However, the most recently known species is C. mydas, the still-living species known as the Green Sea Turtle. It dates back to the Late Pleistocene and is still here.^[2]

The genus include 7 extinct species, and they are:

• Chelonia hoffmani
• Chelonia oligocena
• Chelonia parvitecta
• Chelonia harvicensis
• Chelonia cuvieri
• Chelonia girundica
• Chelonia gwinneri