Amnigenia catkillensis Pelecypod Fossils

 

This post documents a scan of large insert found in New York State Museum Bulletin 49 published December 1901. The paper is listed as Value of Amnigenia as an Indicator of Fresh-Water Deposits of New York, Ireland, and the Rhineland by John M. Clarke (pages 199-203; plate 11).

These pelecypods are listed as Amnigenia catkillensis (Hall, 1885) which were originally described by Vanuxem in 1842 as Cypricardites catskillensis. Researchgate web site lists genus renamed by Weir in 1969 to Archanodon. Fossils date to the Devonian Period.

Image is from plate 11 described as "a slab of limestone bearing 33 individuals of this species all with closed valves and buried in the mud at various angles across the lines of sedimentation." It was found in the Oneonta sandstone of Clarke Quarry at Oxford, New York, USA. The specimen was presented to the New York State Museum by E.E. Davis, esq. of Norwich, New York. The plate is sized at approximately 14 by 10 inches (35.5 x 25.4 cm)

New York State Museum

The New York State Museum was founded in 1836 as part of the State Geological and Natural History Survey.  According to their web site, over three quarters of million people visit each year and over 12,000,000 specimens in their collections. 

The museum has a rich history whose foundation was formed by geologists and naturalists of the 1800s (see their History of the Museum web site for details).  My cousin Kenny recently visited this museum and gave me some pictures he took.  He commented that it is an amazing place but the fossil displays had some areas of low lighting.  That being said, the museum has announced they have the designs finished for the updated natural history section of the museum.

New York state has lots of diverse fossil exposures.  The diversity of fossils allows the museum to have some great displays.  Here are some of them.

Cohoes Mastodon - Found 1866

Eurypterus

Eospermatopteris - early land plant Devonian

Colpodexylon deatsii - early late Devonian

Climactichnites fossil tracks - Cambrian

Nephriticeras - Devonian Hamilton Sea

Coelophysis of the Late Triassic

Billion Year Old Stromatolites

Mineral Gallery