Freshwater ostracodes from upper Middle Devonian fluvial facies, Catskill Mountains, New York

Abstract

Leperditiocope ostracodes identified asSollenella? sp. were discovered in the Gilboa Formation (upper Givetian, uppermost Middle Devonian) within the continental Catskill Magnafacies of New York State. The deposits in which the ostracodes were found are meandering-fluvial facies that were part of a vast alluvial plain that sloped westward from the eroding Acadian Mountains. Hence, ostracodes colonized freshwater habitats earlier than heretofore thought. It has been widely accepted that, until now, the oldest known unequivocal occurrences of freshwater ostracodes are of Late Carboniferous age. This new discovery means that the first colonization of freshwater habitats by Ostracoda occurred approximately 60 million years earlier than previously known.