9.4" Colorful Inflated Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) - South Dakota

Colorful Inflated Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) - South Dakota #355980

This is a gorgeous, 9.4" 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 minimal crushing and gorgeous red-orange preservation.

The shell is approximately 98% complete. There are several repaired cracks through this specimen, mainly along the marginal scutes. There is some repair work through the carapace as well on the same side as the marginal scute 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.

SPECIES

Stylemys nebrascensis

AGE

Oligocene (~31-35 Million Years)