7" Inflated Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) w/ Limb Bones - South Dakota

Inflated Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) w/ Limb Bones - South Dakota #373009

This is a 7" long shell (carapace and plastron) of an Oligocene-aged tortoise (Stylemys nebrascensis) from the White River Formation in the Badlands of South Dakota. It is nicely inflated with a slight pink-purple coloration and maroon colored suture lines. Some limb bones can be seen poking out from the matrix along the posterior end of the specimen.

Comes with a display stand.

The shell is about 95% complete. This specimen was extracted in multiple sections, requiring crack repair and minor gap fill restoration. The carapace was found fairly fragmented in spots, with gap fill and glue stabilization to hold it together. The edges of some of the marginal scutes required restoration.

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.

$1,050

SPECIES

Stylemys nebrascensis

AGE

Oligocene (30 - 33 Million Years)