Fossilized Elimia tenera shells occur in a region which is now southern Wyoming, northern Colorado and northeastern Utah.

The best preserved Elimia tenera are from Lake Gosiute which fossils occur in the Fort Laclede Bed of the Laney Member at outcrops in Sweetwater County, in southwestern Wyoming.

[3] E. tenera occurs in fossil beds that are 46 to 51 million years old, in the Laney Member of the Green River Formation.

[6] Fossil shells of E. tenera are hosted in chalcedony-rich sedimentary rock.

The Wyoming fossil shells, however, are in a freshwater sedimentary deposit and identifiable as the genus Elimia, and are less-silicified than those in Texas and California.