DACRYOCONARID EVENT FAUNAS IN THE LOWER EIFELIAN TO LOWER FRASNIAN SECTION OF NEW YORK

The lower Eifelian to lower Frasnian section of New York is punctuated by multiple bioevents, which can be diagnosed by unique, temporally restricted dacryoconaird (dac) forms. Dacs of the Edgecliff and lower Nedrow limestones, which occur near and immediately above the base of the Eifelian Stage, include two forms each of Striatostyliolina, Costulatostyliolina, and Viriatellina, as well as a previously unknown form of Styliolina, which have yet to be described formally. This fauna does not extend to the upper Nedrow Choteč Event beds in which dacs comparable to Metastyliolina stratissima and Nowakia sulcata antiqua occur. The Stony Hollow Event fauna, which occupies the interval from the upper Bakoven Shale to the Cherry Valley Member of the Oatka Creek Formation, is diagnosed by Costulatostyliolina strigata (Hall), diverse froms of Viriatellina, and the lowermost known Appalachian Basin occurrence of Homoctenus. Whereas the upper Eifielian Kačák Event of the lowermost East Berne Shale has yet to yield a distictive dac fauna, the lower Givetian Halihan Hill Bed is diagnosed by the stratum-specific occurrence of Nowakia halihanensis. The uppermost Givetian Taghanic Onlap Event is diagnosed by a previously unknown dac, provisionally referred to a Pustulatostyliolina, which is currently known only from the Geneseo Shale of New York and the Blocher Shale of Indiana. The lower Frasnian Franse Event, represented by the Genundewa Limestone, is diagnosed by a second previously unknown dac, provisionally referred to as Reticulatostyliolina, which is also stratum-specific.