Is this a Stylemus turtle?

[varial]

Hi there!  My daughter and I love to collect fossils, though we don't know much about them and can't identify most of what we have.  We stopped by an estate sale today and bought 8 fossils, three of which were wrapped in brown paper and bound with electrical tape.  When I opened them, I found three turtle shells.  The best of the bunch is pictured below, and I'm wondering if I'm right thinking it's a Stylemus turtle from the Oligocene period.  It's roughly 12" from front to back and 10" wide.  I haven't taken the paper off of the bottom yet to see if there is anything underneath.  The second turtle is in fair shape, but not nearly as good as this one.  And the third I think is in bad shape.  If you're interested, I can upload photos of those two as well.  They appear to be different than this one.

 

I don't know where they came from, just that it was part of an estate and they were in a lot of about 100-200 fossils.  We're in the Rapid City, SD area.

 

Thanks for looking, and any help would be appreciated.

[Rockwood]

It does have the shape of a turtle shell. I have a bad feeling that other than that something is very wrong here though. The texture does not look right at all to me.

I hope I'm wrong.

[snolly50]

Glancing at your photos, your piece resembles the Stylemys nebrascensis  (spelled, I believe with a "y"); I prepped years ago. Indeed, Oligocene would be a proper guess. My critter came from Wyoming, so you are generally in the right part of the world. Of course, as with any acquisition without collecting info, it's all a guess. Congrats, yours is certainly worthy of display. Many of these turtles are found "exploded."

[steelhead9]

Yes, a stylemys nebrascensis, and better than most. If you are in Rapid City you are in the heart of oligocene fossil country. Much of the fossil beds are on reservation land and it is very common practice for the collectors to put fossils in brown bags with electrical tape in the field to hold everything together until prepping. Your turtle is nicely inflated, very intact and would be a great specimen if prepped properly. Be very careful handling it as it is likely to fall apart until it is stabilized. Sure wish I had been at that estate sale!

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

As the others said it is a nice turtle shell. (but it needs a good prep job.)

 

I would like to see the other 2 pieces.

[varial]

Thanks for the replies!  Now that I've had some sleep I should clarify that it came from an estate but it was purchased from a shop that buys estates and re-sells the items.  I just couldn't think of a good way to explain that for some reason.  The mind is a funny thing sometimes.

 

I do wish there was some information on where it was found, but there was none.  I was only able to identify this because it was a whole specimen, and I probably lucked out finding that information.  There were five boxes of smaller whole/fragmented fossils, and if I had more knowledge about identification, there were probably some neat things in there.

 

The other two shells look different than the Stylemys.  I can get more detailed photos if anyone wants them.  

 

Again, thanks for your replies.  I have a lot of fossil pieces that I have no idea what they are, and never thought about asking on a forum.  

 

 

[Rockwood]

Glad it was just me not seeing through the bentonite haze.

[ynot]

Can not help to id them, but I think that all 3 would be great pieces with a proper preparation job.

Congratulations on such a nice acquisition!

Tony

[varial]

Following up on this.  Thank you to everyone for the replies.  I took the turtles to the South Dakota School of Mines and had one of their paleontologists look them over.  She told me that they were Stylemys and likely from the White River formation in the Badlands.  I've checked around and to have them prepared by someone else is out of my price range, so I may try one myself.  I'm scared of ruining it, but I figure if I go slow I should be okay.

 

I went back to the sale as they were loading all the stuff up that didn't sell and I got the remaining 4 boxes of fossils (including another turtle and some Native American beads and pottery pieces) for $20.  I've identified some things, but there are others I'll post up and see what you guys think.

[RJB]

Yep, all fossil tortoises and all in need of prep and some in need of some serious prep and maybe some repair.  I wish you luck, those are not easy to prep.  The 'red' ones are covered in an iron layer and is a real pain in the rear to take off.  But you have some nice fossils there. 

 

RB