One of our most fascinating and beautiful acquisitions, this incredibly rare fossil turtle, Eurysternum wagleri, was discovered in the famous Solnhofen limestone. Found in the the Upper Jurassic layers of Painten, near Kelheim in Bavaria, Germany (152 million years old).

The Solnhofen Limestone encompasses what was once a network of placid lagoons. Among the famous and rare discoveries here include archaeopteryx and pterosaurs. The preservation in this deposit is so remarkable that fossils of softbodied organisms like jellyfish and squid have been found!

Size: longest distance you can measure in the fossil is appr. 32 cm and the carapace is about 22.5 cm long. The skull is about 5cm long and the matrix measures appr. 54 cm x 53 cm.

Specimen in original matrix - not inset

Specimen naturally articulated

See bone map: restoration in green 

Full resolution photos and UV light pic here: