Nice little Stylemys

[Bozark]

Finally getting to work on some of the fossils we got on our last trip to Wyoming! After some pretty simple wash jobs we decided to start on a little Stylemys we found the first night. We think we got most of him, some of the shell was washing out but we caught it pretty early and picked up most all the frags we could see. There's a pretty stark shift in color between the exposed shell (white) and the dark purple of the shell we uncovered. Pretty quick job of getting it out,  but apparently I packed it up before the consolidant had really set

[Bozark]

When we got it to our lab it was a pretty simple process to remove the paper towels that got glued to the carapace. I didn't have very high hopes for this guy-no evident limb bones to speak of, but I thought it could still make a good coffee table or desk piece if I left it on a pedestal and restored the shell. All the prep so far has been hand tools, I'll probably air abrade and buff near the end. I figured I'd work from the bottom to the top, in hopes of finding some plastron

Aaand bingo. There's at least a bit of him in there- more dark purple like the other elements still in matrix. Lots of consolidant right after the picture was taken, this little guy is a little more interesting than I thought

[Bozark]

Here's how I left him after a few hours. I'll be doing a little more on him tonight and post tomorrow, there's a nice little surprise on this guy that the pictures haven't shown. In the meantime, I've found water to be a tremendous help on this part of the white river formation. I'll let you guys know on this thread tomorrow how she works out!

[jpc]

These little guys are the best place to find Stylemys skulls, as well as limb bones.  (Note the spelling).  So, you are going to air abrade it and buff it?  What exactly does buffing entail, and why?  

[Bozark]

Hey JP! Thanks for the advice, I find myself waffling on the spelling with alarming frequency. Buffing is kinda exactly what it sounds like. We'll usually take a soft cloth or fit a cut up sponge on a dremel or drill and run it over the carapace (obviously gently, avoiding more fragmented areas, etc.) to get a higher shine for display without resorting to chemical means. Sometimes it'll hardly do anything, sometimes the results are incredible. Hell creek bones in good condition are probably my favorite candidates, but some of the larger Stylemys fossils I've used the technique on start showing off a little more color

[RJB]

I, like JP, am wondering about 'buffing'?  Never heard of that or done it.  Nice little specimen though.

 

RB

[Bozark]

@RJB see above. I'm not entirely sure if I'll use it on this guy. He's got a nice contrast on him with the two colors as is, and if there's a choice between using a technique and not using it with little difference in the end result I tend to avoid using it. Got a little more done on him, most of the excess matrix is removed and the plastron is mostly exposed

[Bozark]

And that's where he'll stay for a bit. I'll be cleaning the edges a little more then seeing how many of the fragments we collected will fit on him

[RJB]

I will hope for you that the pieces fit together nicely?  

 

RB

[Bozark]

Woops- lost my intermediate photos. Rest of the prep was pretty simple. Nearly all of the frags fit together perfectly. No skull or other small bones inside it, but in the back left I found an odd coprolite. I reconstituted some of the matrix to build a basic mount. I'll let it dry and do some detailing.

[Bozark]

[Bozark]

And the coprolite. Lots of little bits of black matter, reminds me of plant deposits in the Lance formation or decapod frags. Also present are larger frags of a purply brown color oddly reminiscent of the plastron's color. Not sure what to think about it, it was either washed in from another animal or present in the turtle when it died. Anybody know a coprolite expert?

[ynot]

Hey @Bozark 

@GeschWhat, @Carl May qualify as experts on poops.

But they will need better closeup pictures of it.

[GeschWhat]

I would love to see a closeup! If decapod bits are present it could be a burrow. Does it stick to your tongue? If not, likely a burrow.

[Bozark]

@GeschWhat sticks quite readily to the tongue. I'll try to get it under a microscope tomorrow and send you some pictures!

[GeschWhat]

Just now, Bozark said:

@GeschWhat sticks quite readily to the tongue. I'll try to get it under a microscope tomorrow and send you some pictures!

Then I'd say you have coprolite! I can't wait to see what's in it.

[ynot]

6 minutes ago, Bozark said:

@GeschWhat sticks quite readily to the tongue. I'll try to get it under a microscope tomorrow and send you some pictures!

Oh no, post them here please.

Inquiring minds want to know!

 

All 6000 of Me.

[RJB]

Me too.  Would love to see the microscope pics.

 

RB

[Carl]

Eagerly awaiting those closeups!

[Bozark]

Unfortunately I wasn't able to use a standard microscope, and had to deal with one designed for viewing mineral thin sections. The photos probably won't be bright enough to tell much, but by using my phone as a flashlight I was able to make some decent observations. The black streaks tended to be fractured in a trellis pattern along their length, with small imperfect tetragons splitting off. If my memory serves me well then this is diagnostic of small fish bones that I've seen before. I'll try to find a better microscope and send some lower magnification, better lit images soon.

 

These were taken at 10x