BRACHIOPODS OF THE GLENERIE LIMESTONE IN NEW YORK

The Lower Devonian Glenerie Limestone (global upper Pragian Stage) is a siliceous, cherty limestone part of which dissolves in muriatic and natural acids yielding an exquisite fauna of silicified fossils. Correlative upper Pragian units in New York are the Oriskany Sandstone and Connelly Conglomerate formations, although the thin New York Oriskany apparently is only correlative with upper Glenerie strata. The Glenerie Formation in New York overlies the Wallbridge Unconformity north of Kingston NY, the Connelly Conglomerate in the vicinity of Kingston and Bloomington NY. Near the junction of the states NY, NJ, and PA, it overlies the lower Pragian Port Jervis Limestone. The Glenerie is overlain by deeper water facies of the Emsian Stage Esopus Formation. The environment of deposition was marine, subtidal but above normal wave base. The fauna is dominated by brachiopods (including the genera Dalmanella, Discomyorthis, Dalejina, Anastrophia, Leptaena, a new leptaenid genus, “Schuchertella,” Hipparionix, Leptostrophia, Megastrophia, Chonostrophiella, Quadrikentron, Eatonia, Costellirostra, Plethorhynchia, Pleiopleurina, Pegmarhynchia, Coelospira, Leptocoelia, Trematospira, Meristella, Meristina, Acrospirifer, Costispirifer, Metaplasia, Plicoplasia, Cyrtina, Beachia, Prionothyris, Rensselaeria, Oriskania, and Centronella). Boucot characterized this as the “Big Shell” Community similar in size to the shells of the Oriskany Sandstone. The Glenerie fauna (Glenerie-Oriskany Ecological-Evolutionary [EE] Subunit of Brett and Baird, 1995) is distinct from older Helderberg and younger Esopus faunas. Previous significant taxonomic work on the Glenerie fauna includes Clarke (1900) and Cloud (1942, on terebratuloid brachiopods). Although the Glenerie is mentioned in the Devonian literature of New York State and faunal lists (sometimes contradictory) have been published, there has never been a modern taxonomic study of the brachiopods until now. This is the largest collection of Glenerie brachiopods recognized to date, and its revised study will be useful in further documenting the wide dispersion of the Oriskany-Glenerie fauna, both to north into Gaspé of northeastern Canada and to southwest into Chihuahua and Sonora of northern Mexico, and Nevada in the Great Basin.