Jerry W. Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I located fossilized turtle shell fragments close to where I live in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico. I have been told they appear to be Basilemys. Any comments or thoughts welcome. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Well its a exploded turtle....lets see if @jpc can help define it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 1 hour ago, Troodon said: Well its a exploded turtle....lets see if @jpc can help define it. I think Basilemys is a good guess. It has that texture. Are you in t he late Cretaceous? Good find... too bad it might be a bit of a puzzle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Awesome find! I agree with Basilemys. I found some paleoart with a quick search on images of a detail carbon sketch of the shell posted by Alex Tirabasso on twitter back in 2017. The texture looks similar to your photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry W. Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 Here is a bit closer photo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Assuming this is late Cretaceous, yeah, Basilemys... the texture is distinctive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry W. Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 These pieces of the turtle shell runs from 1/2 inch thick to about 2 inches thick. I am pretty sure this area where this was found is Upper Cretaceous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Nice, but good luck with puzzling it together.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 I have been messing again with turtle parts from here in Florida that are much younger in age and am fascinated...that picture says it all...they break up into a zillion pieces most times...interesting to see yours still in situ. congrats! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Nice. I would love to try and solve that puzzle. Keep as much information as possible on how you found it! Best Regards, J Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry W. Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 On 2/2/2020 at 6:37 AM, Plantguy said: I have been messing again with turtle parts from here in Florida that are much younger in age and am fascinated...that picture says it all...they break up into a zillion pieces most times...interesting to see yours still in situ. congrats! Regards, Chris On 2/2/2020 at 8:15 AM, Mahnmut said: Nice. I would love to try and solve that puzzle. Keep as much information as possible on how you found it! Best Regards, J The area where the photo was taken is a wash but the sand there is extremely compacted and there is very, very little rain so nothing has happened recently. I wouldn't be surprised if the skeleton to the turtle is buried there somewhere too. In addition to the shell pieces you see in the photograph, I found some more up to about 40 yards away up the wash. What is cool is I also located several vertebrae in that immediate area that were about the size of my fist or a bit smaller. Unknown if it was a dino or some sea creature. I haven't been to that place since November and probably won't make it back for a month or more. Though this area is incredibly remote, right when I was taking the photograph of the turtle shell, two hikers came wandering up from who-knows-where and I tried my best to send them away to look at some petrified tree that was over the hill. I hope all of the turtle pieces are there when I return later on. Though I won't reveal exactly where this turtle was found, if you are interested, check out the Kirtland Formation in New Mexico and that will give you some idea. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahnmut Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Well, I won´t take a walk over there too soon, as much as I would like to. Best Regards, J Try to learn something about everything and everything about something Thomas Henry Huxley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Basilemys is not common. If this is on BLM land you should report it to the local BL office. And I like to think that you know this, but you need a permit to collect this on BLM land. And so much of NW NM is BLM or Reservation Land... even more strict in their collecting rules. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry W. Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 On 2/4/2020 at 2:54 PM, jpc said: Basilemys is not common. If this is on BLM land you should report it to the local BL office. And I like to think that you know this, but you need a permit to collect this on BLM land. And so much of NW NM is BLM or Reservation Land... even more strict in their collecting rules. Yes, and that is why it sits in situ, or at least it was when I last saw it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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