Family Cheloniidae: cumulative frequency of new species descriptions (1758-2018)
The diagram shows the descriptions of the currently recognized species, as they appeared since 1758, the beginning of modern, Linnaean taxonomy.
Some species may previously have been regarded as subspecies or synonyms of other species and later revalidated as separate species.
Hence, the diagram may not show the exact number of recognized species at the time of a particular year, but rather the number of species now recognized, whether they were considered valid species at that time or not.
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