| Hughmilleria socialis Sarle |
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| HUGHMILLERIID EURYPTERIDS |
| Eurypterids.net |
| Hughmilleria & "Prehistoric Pittsford" |
| My first website, "Prehistoric Pittsford" dealt with the discovery of a new eurypterid fauna by Clifton J. Sarle (published in 1902-1903 by the New York State Museum). Sarle described a new genus, Hughmilleria, named in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous Scottish geologist, Hugh Miller. Specimens of Hughmilleria socialis and the associated eurypterid, Eurypterus pittsfordensis (named after the town of Pittsford), are on display at the Pittsford Community Library in Pittsford. The specimen shown above, CIURCA 070476-4, was collected from the Pittsford Shale, (original) Erie Canal site at the Chase Pitkin Building (now demolished and the property now part of the 'super' Wegmans Building. "The times they are a changin'." Samuel J. Ciurca, Jr., Rochester, New York. FOR 200th ANNIVERSITY CELEBRATION OF THE SCOTTISH GEOLOGIST, HUGH MILLER, CLICK BELOW: |
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| The first hughmilleriid was described by Clifton J. Sarle in 1903 from a black shale bed along the Erie Canal while the canal was being reexcavated to make it deeper. The fossil he described was new to science, so he named it Hughmilleria socialis. Why did Sarle name this new an- imal, Hughmilleria? It was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous Scottish geologist, Hugh Miller. He combined the name of this geologist into a new genus, Hughmillera. Now, approaching 2003, we can celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sarle's discovery of this animal in the black shale bed (Pittsford Shale) at Pittsford, N. Y. Hughmilleria socialis, shown in the photos to the left and to the right, looks somewhat fishlike--slender body and streamlined aspect. This specimen is now on ex- hibit at Hugh Miller's Cottage (preserved as a museum) at Cromarty in Scotland. |
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| Hughmilleria socialis Sarle |
| Reconstruction, slightly modified, from Clarke & Ruedemann, 1912. |
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| ABOVE: Hughmilleria socialis Sarle. This fine specimen was collected in 1997 during excavations near the original Erie Canal almost 100 years after Clifton Sarle discovered this eurypterid fauna as reported in 1903. The integument on the anterior half of the specimen is exceptionally preserved. I suggest that this streamlined eurypterid was a fast swimmer and may have inhabited nearby rivers and lakes, rather than the typical marine realm in which most eurypterids appear to have lived. The Pittsford Shale, from which this specimen was obtained, was deposited in a hypersaline environment. It is likely that this environment favored preservation of forms not only washed in from the sea, but also washed down from rivers and lakes. This may explain the associated occurrence of Eurypterus, probably a marine form, and may also explain the presence of at least 2 different pterygotids found in most eurypterid faunas. The streamlined pterygotids may have been riverine, while forms such as Acutiramus may have been typically marine. |
| CLICK ON DRAWING OF HUGHMILLERIA, AT LEFT, TO VIEW TYPICAL STRUCTURES OF EURYPTERIDS. OFTEN,THE VARIOUS STRUCTURES ARE FOUND AS ISOLATED PARTS COLLECTED INTO WINDROWS AND CAN BE UTILIZED TO IDENTIFY THE SPECIES OF EURYPTERID. FOR EXAMPLE, MOST TELSONS ARE VERY CHARACTERISTIC AND CAN OFTEN BE USED TO IDENTIFY THE EURYPTERID FROM WHICH THEY CAME. |