Enormous, 21.4" Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) - South Dakota

Enormous, Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys) - South Dakota #316689

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This is an enormous, 21.4" long shell (carapace and plastron) of an Oligocene-aged tortoise (Stylemys sp.) from the White River Formation in the Badlands of South Dakota. It is nicely inflated with minimal crushing.

The shell is approximately 95% complete, with some crack repairs and gap fill restoration around the periphery of the carapace. The largest section of gap fill restoration is along the plastron.

This giant tortoise specimen is a bit too large for a typical display stand. It does however sit nicely on a hard surface, and due to its weight of 116 lbs, it's not going anywhere.

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.

$5,950

SPECIES

Stylemys sp.

AGE

Oligocene (~31-35 Million Years)