9.6" Fossil Female Tortoise (Testudo) Shell - South Dakota

This is a nice, 9.6" long shell (carapace and plastron) of a female tortoise (Testudo thomsoni), collected from the White River Formation in South Dakota. It has nice inflation with almost no crushing. There is some restoration to the marginal plates, making up approximately 5-10% of the specimen. Repair can also be found long the plastron where some plates broke away during collection.

This is the rarer of the two genera of fossil tortoise found in the White River Formation, the other being Stylemys.