1.4" Oligocene Aged Fossil Tortoise Egg - Wyoming

This is a very unusual fossil, it is an Oligocene-aged fossil tortois (Stylemys nebrascensis) egg from Converse County, Wyoming. Fossil eggs are extremely rare in the fossil record, so this is quite a unique offering. The egg is roughly 30 million years old.

Stylemys ("pillar turtle") is the first fossil genus of dry land tortoise discovered in the United States. They lived in temperate to subtropical areas of North America, Europe, and Asia.

These extinct tortoises had primitive jaw muscles, unlike today's tortoises that also display the os transiliens bone, and would have been herbivorous. While Stylemys species did exhibit the same neck structure as modern tortoises, the forelimbs weren't ideal for burrowing.


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DETAILS
SPECIES
Stylemys nebrascensis
LOCATION
Converse County, Wyoming
FORMATION
White River Formation - Brule Formation
SIZE
1.4" wide
ITEM
#269924
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