Olive Ridley Seaturtle

Open encyclopedia reference

The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. L. olivacea is found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but also in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

This turtle and the related Kemp's ridley sea turtle are best known for their unique synchronised mass nestings called arribadas, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.

Wikipedia contributors, Olive ridley sea turtle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:09:24.778107+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829)

Name authority

(Eschscholtz, 1829)

Common name

Olive Ridley Seaturtle

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Testudines

Family

Cheloniidae

Genus

Lepidochelys

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
9. orderTestudines Batsch, 1788
10. suborderCryptodira
11. superfamilyChelonioidea
12. familyCheloniidae
13. genusLepidochelys
14. speciesLepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Lepidochelys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 6 records assigned to Cheloniidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Lepidochelys&species=olivacea Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3TB2H. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.