| UNUSUAL EURYPTERID SPECIMENS - This interesting specimen of Eurypterus lacustris is peculiar because of unusual preservation. This is, essentially, a side-view of an eurypterid. The animal, presumably a molt, was folded in half before being deposited in the lime mud. View is looking down on a bedding plane so the other half of the speci- men is beneath the flattened remains. Note the preserved swimming leg beneath and parallel to the specimen and the disarticulated joints. Also note portions of the anterior appendages with some preserved spines. Most of the reddish or rusty integument is preserved on this specimen (note the flaking). In the center of the above photo, a portion of distorted ventral structures are preserved. This specimen is probably and most likely the result of a storm (tempestite) that threw the remains (on its side) into the fine sediment to be preserved in what we call the Williams- ville Waterlime, Late Silurian Bertie Group, today. Locality: Niagara Peninsula (RQS), Ontario, Canada. This region, and the Buffalo, New York area, have provided thousands of specimens of eurypterid remains for over a hundred years. Each is a unique specimen telling us something different about the occurrence and behavior of the biota we see preserved in the various waterlimes of the Bertie Group. |
