A NEW CYSTIHALYSITES SPECIES IDENTIFIED IN THE ROSENDALE/KINGSTON, NY AREA

The Glasco Member of the Upper Silurian Roundout Formation contains an abundant and diverse shallow-water fauna. Recently collected specimens of tabulate corals from the Glasco Member in the Rosendale and Kingston area in the Hudson Valley of eastern NYS were examined and determined to belong to family Halysitidae, genus Cystihalysites (Tchernychev, 1941). The specimens appear to be a new species, closely related to Cystihalysites brownsportensis (Amsen); we propose to name this new species Cystihalysites rosendalensis. Additional specimens of halysid corals were collected from the Roundout-equivalent Cobleskill Formation from Salt Springville in the Mohawk Valley in central NYS. While poorly preserved in general with detailed features hard to observe, dimensional measurements of the auto and mesocorallites indicate they represent a different species from those found in the Glasco Member of the east. Based on these measurements the Salt Springville specimen is more closely related to brownsportensis than to rosendalensis.