A GUIDE TO THE EURYPTERID COLLECTING LOCALITIES IN THE BERTIE FORMATION OF CENTRAL NEW YORK

A guidebook to the eurypterid collecting localities in the Fiddlers Green Member of the Bertie Formation of Central New York was constructed. Information was compiled for four outcrops in the Fiddlers Green Member of the Bertie Formation that are known to contain eurypterids. The guidebook consists of road logs, mileage, parking instructions, outcrop and specimen photographs, and analysis of the best and worst collecting areas at each locality. The guidebook can be used by students and teachers to facilitate specimen collection.

Central New York and Ontario, Canada are the only areas where eurypterids can be found in the Upper Silurian Bertie Formation. Eurypterus remipes Dekay is the most prevalent eurypterid found at the four localities. Acutiramus macrophthalmus and Dolichopterus jewetti are the next most common eurypterids found at these localities. Rarely have other species of eurypterid been found at these localities, but other specimens such as gastropods, cephalopods and various plants have been identified.

Specimens found at the four localities (Forge Hollow, Litchfield, Lang's Quarry, and Passage Gulf) can provide information about the paleobiology of eurypterids as well as the paleoecology and paleoenvironment in which they lived. The orientation and distortion of the specimens are also useful for information relating to the potential paleobiology, paleoecology and paleoenvironment of these once living organisms.