Description
Location: Judith River Formation, Montana
Weight: 0.5 Ounces
Dimensions: 1.4 Inches Long, 1.3 Inches Wide, 0.3 Inches Thick
The item pictured is the one you will receive.
This is a genuine fossil.
By the Cretaceous period—a 79-million-year span ending 66 million years ago—turtles had already established themselves as a highly successful and varied reptilian lineage. Their defining feature, the bony shell, provided essential protection and enabled adaptation to diverse ecological niches. Fossil records reveal striking variation among Cretaceous turtles, from diminutive land-dwelling forms to colossal marine species. The Archelon stands as a prime example of Late Cretaceous gigantism, achieving shell lengths exceeding four meters as it navigated the shallow epicontinental seas of ancient North America. Equally impressive was the Protostega, another Late Cretaceous leviathan with comparable dimensions, whose morphology and probable diet of gelatinous marine fauna reflect specialized adaptation to pelagic environments. These taxa exemplify the remarkable evolutionary radiation turtles had already undergone well before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.