Are turtle eggs cleidoic or non-cleidoic

Abstract

Experimental data to determine the true status of the turtle eggs as to whether they are cleidoic or non-cleidoic has been very meagre. Needham (1931) deduced that turtle eggs are non-cleidoic or ' iniperfectly cleidoic'. Further reviewing the problem, Needham (1942) termed turtle egg as ' intermediate'. Recently Pritchard (1979) has indicated that turtles lay cleidoic eggs. In the case of the spiny soft shell turtle Trionix spiniferus which lays rigid shelled eggs, Packard and Packard (1983) opined that the egg is cleidoic. Our obseryation on the flexible shelled egg of the, olive ridley Lepidochelys olivacea has shown that the egg of this sea turtle is non-cleidoic. Based on the available data on capacity for water absorption, protein and lipid utilization and nitrogen excretion during incubation in turtle eggs we feel that the sea and freshwater turtles lay non-cleidoic eggs.