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34-485: See text . Cheloniidae is a family of typically large marine turtles that are characterised by their common traits such as, having a flat streamlined wide and rounded shell and almost paddle-like flippers for their forelimbs . They are the only sea turtles to have stronger front limbs than back limbs. The six species that make up this family are: the green sea turtle , loggerhead sea turtle , olive ridley sea turtle , hawksbill sea turtle , flatback sea turtle and

68-442: A compromised immune system. They have higher phagocytic leucocyte counts (especially heterophils ) compared to healthy individuals, which seems to be an effect of FP, as it is mostly evident in individuals with severe tumours. This further supports the hypothesis of the herpesvirus as a causative agent. Immunosuppression is strongly correlated with FP, but does seem to be a consequence of the development and growth of FP rather than

102-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called

136-441: A prerequisite, which is similar to other virus-induced tumour diseases in other species, such as Marek's disease in poultry. Surgical removal of tumors caused by FP is the most common treatment method. Photodynamic therapy and electrochemotherapy are also used, as is CO 2 laser surgery. FP affects green sea turtle populations all over the world, making it a panzootic . It is especially found in warmer climates, such as

170-407: Is also associated with habitats’ poor quality, while FP is absent in some habitats of good quality. Turtles are known to be robust to physical damage, but are surprisingly very susceptible to biological and chemical contaminants caused by anthropogenic activity. As the turtles forage on invasive macroalgae in nutrient-rich waters, they can ingest environmental nitrogen in the form of arginine, which

204-485: Is an infectious disease with horizontal transmission . An alphaherpesvirus initially called fibropapilloma-associated turtle herpesvirus (FPTHV), and now called Chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5 , is believed to be the causative agent of the disease. The reason for this belief is because nearly all tissue samples tested from turtles with lesions carry genetic material of this herpesvirus, varying between 95 and 100% depending on different studies and locations. The DNA loads of

238-499: Is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to

272-474: Is even also found in warmer seas such as the Mediterranean Sea. Within these temperamental biomes, sea turtles frequent near by the coastlines when nesting, and spend most of their lives swimming out in waters over the continental shelf when feeding. Travelling throughout the oceans has been reported in olive ridley sea turtles but more often than not, they tend to frequent bays and estuaries. The diets of all

306-433: Is most often found externally around the armpits, genitals, neck, eyes, and tails of turtles, but also occur in and around the mouth, and rarely in internal organs or on the carapace. This, in turn, impedes vision, feeding, and movement. Around 25–30% of turtles with external tumours also have internal tumours, primarily in heart, lungs and kidneys. FP incidence is highest among immature and juvenile green turtles, while it

340-480: Is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family

374-748: Is possibly caused by biotoxins or contaminants. Fibropapillomatosis is a benign tumour disease of marine turtles, predominantly in the green sea turtle , Chelonia mydas , but it has also been reported in the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta , olive ridley Lepidochelys olivacea , Kemp's ridley Lepidochelys kempii , and leatherbacks Dermochelys coriacea . This neoplastic disease causes proliferation of papillary cells ( hyperplasia ) and gives rise to excess fibrous connective tissue in both epidermal and dermal skin layers – or more specifically, proliferation of dermal fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes. This causes tumorigenesis in sizes less than 1 cm up to more than 30 cm in diameter. FP

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408-643: Is rare in adults. The suggestions for this pattern include the tumours can regress and be cured, which has been documented in some individuals, even when tumours were severe. However, the responses that cause these tumour regressions is unknown. Secondly, the juvenile individuals with FP might die before reaching adulthood . The tumours appear to be benign and can be present for many years, but if large, can mechanically hamper sight, swallowing, and swimming, which may ultimately be fatal. While external tumours hamper movement and sight, internal tumours interfere with system functioning, another potentially fatal factor. As

442-485: Is thought to be the mechanical vector of the herpesvirus, transmitting the virus from one turtle to another. These leeches are common turtle ectoparasites that exclusively feed on turtle blood, and some leeches have been found carrying more than 10 million copies of the herpesvirus DNA. The green sea turtle is an herbivore and feeds primarily on seagrass and macroalgae. Two toxins which are suspected to be associated with FP are found epiphytically on these plants. First,

476-458: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Turtle fibropapillomatosis The causative agent of

510-452: The Kemp's ridley sea turtle . In contrast to their earth-bound relatives, tortoises , sea turtles do not have the ability to retract their heads into their shells. Their plastron, which is the bony plate making up the underside of a turtle or tortoise's shell, is comparably more reduced from other turtle species and is connected to the top part of the shell by ligaments without a hinge separating

544-550: The Caribbean, Hawaii, Japan, and Australia, where up to 70% of individuals in a population have FP. Epidemiological links are seen between FP rates, nitrogen footprints, and invasive macroalgae. The strongest association with FP is with habitat type, especially increased anthropogenic activity causing high-nitrogen footprints in a surrounding environment where green sea turtles are found. Sea turtles do live in very complex ecosystems, with both near-shore habitats and several years in

578-407: The disease is believed to be Chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5 (ChHV-5), a species of virus in the genus Scutavirus , subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae , family Herpesviridae , and order Herpesvirales . Turtle leeches are suspected mechanical vectors , transmitting the disease to other individuals. The disease is thought to have a multifactorial cause, including a tumour-promoting phase that

612-597: The disease was in 1938 in Key West, Florida. Long-term studies found no signs of the disease on Florida's Atlantic coast in the 1970s, but during the 1980s FP was recorded in incidences varying from 28 to 67%. Today, incidences as high as 92% have been reported in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. Generally, FP is most prominent in warmer climates. Recent research has found that FP is caused by stress and tumours have been observed in turtles that are part of turtle tourism tours. The FP

646-409: The eggs is dependent on the temperature of the environment that they were buried in, with warmer climates bringing about an earlier emergence by the hatchlings. The timing of sea turtle hatching tends to be almost synchronous among the whole clutch of eggs, with just about all the eggs in the nest hatching within the same time. This is thought to aid the process of the hatchlings unburying themselves from

680-530: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and

714-692: The herpesvirus in tumour tissue are 2.5–4.5 logarithms higher than in uninfected tissue. The FPTHV herpesvirus has been found in turtles free from FP and this suggest that the FP progression is multifactorial and might even involve some sort of tumour-promoting phase. The global prevalence of the disease also suggests a multifactorial cause, rather than single factors or agents. Possible factors include some parasites, bacteria, environmental pollutants, UV-light, changing water temperatures and biotoxins. Even physiological factors such as stress and immunologic status appear to be associated with FP. The leech genus Ozobranchus

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748-466: The number of infected turtles is over 70%. It is unknown what the effects of the growths will have in the long term for sea turtle populations. Sea turtles play a very important part in marine ecosystems. They maintain the balance of health of sea grasses and reefs, which in turn benefit the likes of shrimp, lobsters, and tunas. They are also the last living members of the seafaring category of marine reptiles that have been in existence on Earth for at least

782-487: The open ocean, which makes study of ecosystem associations difficult. Even so, observations support the hypothesis that near-shore habitats have a strong correlation with the disease, as newly recruited individuals from the pelagic life phase have never been found with tumours, and when migrating to more shallow ocean zones, such as the neritic zone , individuals still remain free from FP, but when entering lagoon systems, turtles may become infected. The high prevalence of FP

816-844: The past 100 million years. They are also highly significant to multiple cultures and are also popular animals in tourism, which gives a higher importance to their conservation. Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships of living and extinct sea turtles in the family Cheloniidae based on Lynch and Parham (2003) and Parham and Pyenson (2010). † Toxochelys † Mexichelys † Lophochleyinae † Euclastes † Argillochelys † Eochelone † Erquelinnesia † Pacifichelys † Puppigerus † Syllomus † Procolpochelys Chelonia mydas [REDACTED] Natator depressus Eretmochelys imbricata [REDACTED] Lepidochelys kempii Lepidochelys olivacea Caretta caretta Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae )

850-489: The pectoral and abdominal plates of the plastron. Sizes among the seven species of sea turtles range from 71 to 213 cm; for example, the smallest turtle species in the family Cheloniidae, the Kemp's Ridley, only has a shell size of about 75 cm and a weight of 50 kg. All species have a distinct hardened shell. Reproductive behaviors among the different species of sea turtles are similar, with slight differences in each of

884-449: The sand and most often occurs at night time. Temperature has also been linked to the likeliness of hatching's sex, warmer temperature more likely to produce females and colder temperatures more commonly producing males. The habitat range of sea turtles, in general, is known to be far reaching into warmer temperatures and the tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and

918-464: The sea turtle species, except for the Green Sea Turtle, which is only herbivorous from hatchling to juvenile, are mostly carnivorous, with some herbivorous tendencies. Sea turtles feed mainly on sea sponges, jellyfish, mollusks and barnacles, sea urchins, and even fish. The green sea turtle, on the other hand, feeds primarily on many different types of sea grasses. The conservation status of each of

952-587: The seven turtle species are either endangered, threatened or data deficient (Flatback). The green and loggerhead sea turtles are categorized as endangered, olive ridley are classified as vulnerable, Kemp's ridley, and hawksbill sea turtles are critically endangered and the flatback sea turtle does not have enough data to draw an accurate conclusion on conservation status. Most do not reach sexual maturity before becoming prey to other organisms, or being caught by humans either intentionally or as bycatch by commercial fishing operations. Their slow maturity rate, which most of

986-567: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted

1020-510: The species. The females come to shore and bury their clutch of eggs on beaches or sandy environments typically at night and well away from the high tide line of the shore. Most females nest only once every three to four years and most species have two to four egg laying time periods per nesting season, which is from spring to late fall. A common number of eggs laid in a nest is often about 100 eggs per clutch. The incubation period of some turtles can range anywhere from 50 to 60 days. The development of

1054-667: The time means about 10 or 15 years, does not allow the turtles which have been caught to have fully reproductively matured and to have produced hatchlings of their own. International legislation has been put into place to attempt to reduce the number of sea turtle deaths but this does not deter the demand for the consumption of turtle eggs around the world, and some are hunted for their shells. In addition to this, turtles face another threat which has been theorized as being linked to human pollution. A growing number of turtles have been found with fibropapillomatosis , fibrous tumor growths on their skin, mouths, and even internal organs. In some areas

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1088-477: The toxic compound lyngbyatoxin from the cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscule, and second the toxin okadaic acid – a documented tumour-promoting toxin - from the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum . Again, causality has not been concluded, but an association seems to exist between the distribution of especially the dinoflagellates and the occurrence of FP, and as they are found on weeds, they can be ingested by foraging green sea turtles. Turtles with FP are found to have

1122-412: The tumours progress, individuals with large numbers of tumours may become anaemic , have a lack of proteins and iron, and in more advanced stages even suffer from acidosis caused by imbalanced calcium/phosphorus ratios and severe emaciation . Fibropapillomas are present in other animal groups, but are caused by different viruses, for example the bovine papillomavirus . The first documented case of

1156-541: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,

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