Texas Farmer Finds Giant Turtle Fossil — Turns Out It’s a Whole New Prehistoric Species

Back in 2014, a retired vet named Mac Glaess was just doing his usual rounds in Hunt County, Texas. He noticed something strange sticking out from the bank of the South Sulphur River. It wasn’t just a big rock. It was the massive shell of a sea turtle that lived 72 million years ago.

Instead of tossing it aside, Mac knew it mattered. So he dug it up and handed it over to the Heard Natural Science Museum for proper study.

Fast forward to 2022. A museum volunteer, Pat Kline, got in touch with paleontologists Brent Adrian and Heather Smith from Arizona State University. They took one look and realized—this wasn’t just any old turtle. It was a brand-new species.

They’ve now officially named it Asmodochelys leviathan—after the sea monster Leviathan. And yes, it was huge. The shell alone was four feet long.

This turtle lived near the end of the dinosaur era, patrolling the ancient seas along what is now the Gulf Coast. It belonged to a now-extinct family of marine turtles. It had strange bony ridges on its back, called epineurals, which likely helped it glide through water. Its shell was full of holes to keep it light and speedy.

No skull was found, so they can’t say exactly what it ate. But the area is full of fossils like clams, oysters, and ammonites—so take a wild guess.

What makes this even cooler is where it was found: the Neylandville Marl formation. Until now, no sea turtles had ever been recorded there. This one fills in a big gap in the fossil record.

It also tells us something important: even as the climate cooled and seas shifted, this turtle’s kind managed to hang on—until the very end of the age of dinosaurs.

Adrian and Smith aren’t new to this. Between them, they’ve already discovered several fossil turtle species and even two new carnivores from Kenya.

Their new study isn’t just about old bones. It’s also a warning. As the climate changes today, sea turtles—just like their ancient cousins—face serious threats. The past might be trying to tell us something.

Their full paper is published in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology.