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Cretaceous Turtle. Wealden, Uk.


Gideon

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I was so pleased to find this in the Weald Clay, UK. Not sure if it's "all that", but one of my favourite ever finds.

It's is a fairly squashed turtle, and has a fair bit of the carapace, and the majority of the plastron. It needs a bit of prep, especially the underside.

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From a bit of research I suspect it is from the genus Brodiechelys, but would love to hear any other suggestions.

Also, if anyone could suggest a professional prepper in the south of england I'd be most grateful, as I don't trust myself to undertake it.

Many thanks

Henry

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Super find....... :thumbsu:

Tony
The Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find.

I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember

And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget.




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I would say "It's all that and then some!"

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Excellent find! :)

Thanks for posting it.

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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Wow.. excellent find. To clarify for us across the pond... Wealden... what sites in the UK are Wealden? S shore of the Isle of Wight?

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Very fine specimen. The Wealden is indeed exposed on the Isle of Wight, but also various other parts of the UK such as around Surrey and Hastings, where I assume this specimen is from.

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Thanks guys. I was pretty excited when I saw this poking out the sludge!

That's right kosmoceras, it was just west of bexhill, on the same stretch of coast as Hastings.

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Just another quick question....I'm a very nervous prepper.....The underside centre of the turtle appears to be covered in Gastropods? I assume it's ok to remove these? Unless I have identified them wrong and This is something important I should leave? Thanks again. Henry

post-14867-0-31048900-1428955062_thumb.jpg

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In my opinion,let it as it is... :)

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

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...The underside centre of the turtle appears to be covered in Gastropods? I assume it's ok to remove these? Unless I have identified them wrong and This is something important I should leave?...

This is a tough call. Were it mine (I wish!), I would keep it intact for the interesting context. The top displays beautifully, and flipping it over reveals a surprise, and a mystery. :)

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Maybe prep some of the bottom and leave a piece untouched to show what kind of matrix it was in?

RB

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Thanks for all the replies. I really appreciate the suggestions. I'll leave it pretty much as it is.... I may not be able to stop myself clearing a small section of it through curiosity!

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  • 1 month later...

I didn't see this post before, it's a fabulous and very interesting discovery ! Great find !

You have to be careful to identification, the radiating pattern on vertebral scutes may be an ontogenic character on juveniles and more rarely an own character on adult for some species (example : Xijiangchelyidae). For you specimen, it's clearly a juvenile. Specimens of Brodiechelys brodiei (juveniles + adults) have radiating pattern, but I believe that some juveniles of Hylaeochelys belli have too radiating pattern. I will look at my publications.

The specimen preparation (especially plastron, posterior edge of carapace and nuchal plate) will permit to confirm the identification. I look forward to see the result.

PS : excuse me for my bad english ;)

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Renaud

Firstly, I'm so sorry for such a late reply. I have only just seen your post.

Thank you for your comments. It is making me reconsider my previous guess at what this could be.

You mention this is a juvenile; What is it that gives that away? Is it just the size of it?

I have done a small amount of slow preparation on this out of curiosity, but I may not prep much more for now. I should probably wait until I feel I have a bit more experience to do so!

I'll try and post some pictures of how it looks at the moment.

Thanks again Renaud....and you're English is excellent........You know the word "ontogenic" for a start...I had to look that one up in a dictionary!

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