Oligocene Tortoise (Stylemys) - Removable From Base

This is a exceptionally nice specimen of the Oligocene aged land tortoise/turtle Stylemys nebrascensis. It's good sized for the species and unlike many specimens exhibits minimal crushing, and is not restored. It can be displayed on it's base of rock in the natural position in which it was found or it can be removed and viewed from all angles. Some of the bones are preserved and viewable on the underside, the rest of them are almost certainly inside the shell.

This specimen was collected from the Brule Formation of South Dakota and prepared the The Black Hills Institute.

Stylemys ("pillar turtle") is the first fossil genus of dry land tortoise discovered in the United States. The genus lived in temperate to subtropical areas of North America, Europe, and Asia
These extinct tortoises had primitive jaw muscles, unlike today's tortoises, which 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 were unsuitable for burrowing.