10.3" Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) Shell - Wyoming

Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) Shell - Wyoming #299820

This is a very well preserved, 10.3" long tortoise (Stylemys nebrascensis) shell from the White River Formation in Wyoming. Both the carapace and the plastron are present. It is well inflated, in good condition and largely intact. Many of the tortoises from this formation are quite compressed, so this specimen is really something special.

Many of the marginal scutes along the posterior edge of the carapace are either completely or partially restored. The anterior marginal scutes are near complete, with some restoration along the edge to a couple. The anterior-most scutes along the plastron have undergone restoration, and the left posterior-most plastron scute has some surface restoration. In total, restoration makes up approximately 5% of the specimen.

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.

$1,250 $1,125

SPECIES

Stylemys nebrascensis

AGE

Middle Oligocene