Specifications
Descrizione
Locality: White River Group, Nebraska, U.S.A.
Era: Late Eocene–Early Oligocene
Geological Age: about 37–30 million years ago
Description: Fossil land tortoises are among the most familiar fossils of the White River Badlands of Nebraska and South Dakota. The most common one is Stylemys nebrascensis. Joseph Leidy named it in 1851 from a partial shell collected in the Badlands in 1850, which is still kept at the Smithsonian.
These tortoises lived as the climate cooled at the end of the Eocene and into the Oligocene, roughly 37 to 30 million years ago, when forests were giving way to open, savannah-like country. Like modern tortoises they had no teeth, and they likely ate low shrubs, grasses and other plants. Shells typically run 25 to 30 cm long, and some reach about 60 cm.
The best-preserved shells come from the "oreodont beds" of the Brule Formation. Some paleontologists think several species may be lumped under the one name, with flatter shells suggesting burrowers like today's gopher tortoise. Shells are common, but shells with the skull or a full skeleton inside are rare. Collecting is illegal on protected lands such as Scotts Bluff National Monument, where rangers ask visitors to report finds.
This piece is a section of domed shell showing the plate-like scute pattern.
In crystal traditions, tortoise fossils are associated with endurance and steady change.
Size of 1 piece: 19cm x 15cm x 10cm
Weight of 1 piece: 2.9kg
Quantity: 1pc
With this product, you will get the actual stone in the photograph. We do what we can to buy good quality products and price them honestly. The rocks may differ from the photos, but we hope we do them justice.