A REAPPRAISAL OF FLORA IN THE BERTIE GROUP AND THEIR POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE IN ANALYZING THE ENVIRONMENT OF LATE SILURIAN NEW YORK STATE AND CANADA

Since its initial description by Chapman (1864), the Bertie Group has been recognized globally for its well-preserved eurypterid specimens and is in turn attributed to them alone, while studies of other fauna have been less prolific and those of flora being rare if not almost nonexistent. In turn, most studies of the Bertie environment have been focused on the interpretations of these organisms; because the actual environmental preferences of eurypterids are still uncertain, however, multiple interpretations have been made of the environment the group represents. In recognition of the Bertie Group’s 150^th anniversary in scientific literature, a reevaluation of floral studies was conducted in order to determine whether or not a deeper analysis of non-animal life-forms can possibly narrow down present interpretations of the type of environment the Bertie represents; in particular, a special focus was made on plant/algae specimens collected from the Fiddlers Green and Williamsville Formations of the Bertie Group. The results of the analysis indicate a considerable morphological variety undescribed in previous literature, of particular note the first reported occurrence in the Bertie Group of Prototaxites, a pair of unusual algae organisms bearing considerable similarity to modern morphological analogues in the red algae genus Thorea, and an undescribed early plant interpreted to be a new species in the genus Tortilicaulis. This evidence, in reference to the stratigraphy of the Bertie Group, indicates that the Bertie Group most likely represents a brackish to freshwater lagoon or estuary, as first proposed by Kindle (1934).