Deefstes
Contributor
- Messages
- 1,396
- Reaction score
- 49
- # of dives
- 100 - 199
Another handy feature to look for when it comes to the pattern of the scutes on the shell is to look for the nuchal scute and first lateral scute and whether or not they touch.
When looking at the turtle from the top you will notice that the shell has three types of scutes. These are the marginal scutes (smaller scutes that form a margin around the shell), central scutes (usually 5 scutes that run down the middle of the shell) and lateral scutes (usually 4 or 5 scutes that run down the sides of the shell between the central scutes and marginal scutes).
The lateral scutes are also refered to as costal scutes. The foremost marginal scute is called the nuchal scute and the hindmost pair is called the supercaudal scutes.
The PDF link that ddeborahdelamar posted above shows this feature nicely. Try to see if the foremost lateral scute touches the nuchal scute or whether it is seperated by the foremost central scute. Where I'm from it's only really useful to seperate Loggerhead from Green and Hawksbill and for telling the latter two apart you still need to observe more features (such as the prefrontal scales on the head) but it's useful all the same.
Also, check out this excellent website for turtle identification and in particular this PDF.
When looking at the turtle from the top you will notice that the shell has three types of scutes. These are the marginal scutes (smaller scutes that form a margin around the shell), central scutes (usually 5 scutes that run down the middle of the shell) and lateral scutes (usually 4 or 5 scutes that run down the sides of the shell between the central scutes and marginal scutes).
The lateral scutes are also refered to as costal scutes. The foremost marginal scute is called the nuchal scute and the hindmost pair is called the supercaudal scutes.
The PDF link that ddeborahdelamar posted above shows this feature nicely. Try to see if the foremost lateral scute touches the nuchal scute or whether it is seperated by the foremost central scute. Where I'm from it's only really useful to seperate Loggerhead from Green and Hawksbill and for telling the latter two apart you still need to observe more features (such as the prefrontal scales on the head) but it's useful all the same.
Also, check out this excellent website for turtle identification and in particular this PDF.
