busyeagle Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) I've had a good run of luck finding turtle bones my past few trips out, and this one is by far the best of the lot. I had never found any identifiable Procolpochelys material before, so I was surprised at the size and thickness of this specimen. This is out of the early Miocene, and was found on 1-17-14. The prep work was more tedious than I anticipated, as there was a rather resilient layer of matrix on top of the bone. Here is one piece mid-prep that happened to have a loose shark tooth stuck to it: After much hand-cramp-inducing scraping, here are the pieces ready to be assembled: It was somewhat difficult to glue because of the curvature of the bone, but it fit back together fairly nicely - here is the result: Happy hunting! Edited February 12, 2014 by busyeagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Kyle Really nice specimen! You are having a great start to 2014. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 An arduous task, which paid off handsomely! "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickNC Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Very nice! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busyeagle Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks! Does anyone else have any Procolpochelys to share? I'd love to see what some of the other bones look like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Except for the tooth I probably would have overlooked that one. Fossil collecting is really about seeing AND hard work you described removing that wonderful speciman from the matrix. Congratulations on an excellent find and prep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Here is a link to our own Boesse's blog, wherein he pictures a fossil turtle identified as Procolpochelys. http://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2013/01/us-research-trip-part-10-college-of.html The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busyeagle Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Here is a link to our own Boesse's blog, wherein he pictures a fossil turtle identified as Procolpochelys. http://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2013/01/us-research-trip-part-10-college-of.html Thanks Rich! I've browsed through Bobby's blog before, but I hadn't seen that beautiful specimen. Very neat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hey Kyle, its nice to see a monster turtle like your find. Congrats! My finds are a different land/pond? Florida fossil species and are much much smaller. Probably Plio/Pleistocene. Nice job assembling yours! Hoping others have finds to show. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busyeagle Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Hey Kyle, its nice to see a monster turtle like your find. Congrats! My finds are a different land/pond? Florida fossil species and are much much smaller. Probably Plio/Pleistocene. Nice job assembling yours! Hoping others have finds to show. Regards, Chris Thanks Chris - and neat bone. Is that a plastron piece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Chris's find is another costal, this one a tortoise. Now, is it Hesperotestudo or is it Gopherus? Gopherus has thin carapace bones, Hesperotestudo does not. The costals in Hesperotestudo have parallel sides; in Gopherus one end of the costal is much wider than the other end, and they alternate. So Chris's bone is a costal of Gopherus. 2 The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Thanks Chris - and neat bone. Is that a plastron piece? Rich just provided the answer and more! Chris's find is another costal, this one a tortoise. Now, is it Hesperotestudo or is it Gopherus? Gopherus has thin carapace bones, Hesperotestudo does not. The costals in Hesperotestudo have parallel sides; in Gopherus one end of the costal is much wider than the other end, and they alternate. So Chris's bone is a costal of Gopherus. Thanks Rich! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now