8" Colorful Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) - South Dakota

Colorful Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) - South Dakota #249240

This is a very inflated, 8" long, fossil shell of an Oligocene-aged tortoise (Stylemys nebrascensis). It comes from the White River Formation in the Badlands of South Dakota. It is in excellent condition with a gorgeous red coloration.

There is restoration to some of the marginal plates, making up approximately 5-10% of the specimen. False rock has been placed in spots throughout the openings following preparation.

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.