Basilemys Turtle?

[Jerry W.]

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.

[Troodon]

Well its a exploded turtle....lets see if @jpc can help define it.  

[jpc]

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

[PaleoNoel]

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.

[Jerry W.]

Here is a bit closer photo.  

[jpc]

Assuming this is late Cretaceous, yeah, Basilemys... the texture is distinctive.  

[Jerry W.]

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. 

[Pemphix]

Nice, but good luck with puzzling it together....

[Plantguy]

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 

[Mahnmut]

Nice.

I would love to try and solve that puzzle. Keep as much information as possible on how you found it! 

Best Regards,

J

[Jerry W.]

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.

[Mahnmut]

Well, I won´t take a walk over there too soon, as much as I would like to.

Best Regards,

J

[jpc]

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.   

[Jerry W.]

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.