Histologie comparée des fosses nasales de quelques Tortues marines (Dermochelys coriacea et Chelonia mydas) et d’eaux douces (Emys orbicularis et Pseudemys scripta) (Reptilia, Dermochelyidae, Cheloniidae, Emydidae)

Comparative histological studies carried out on the nasal cavity of four species of turtles showed that the sea turtles have a more or less regressed olfactive epithelium compared to that of the Emydidae but that their vomeronasal epithelium is more developed. The location of the vomeronasal epithelium in the cavum also differs. The data suggest that the Dermochelyidae were adapted to a strict aquatic life a long time before the Cheloniidae.