FRESH-WATER OSTRACODES FROM UPPER MIDDLE DEVONIAN FLUVIAL FACIES, CATSKILL MOUNTAINS, NEW-YORK

Leperditiocope ostracodes identified as Sollenella? sp. were discovere d in the Gilboa Formation (upper Givetian, uppermost Middle Devonian) within the continental Catskill Magnafacies of New York State. The dep osits 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 hab itats earlier than heretofore thought. It has been widely accepted tha t, until now, the oldest known unequivocal occurrences of freshwater o stracodes are of Late Carboniferous age. This new discovery means that the first colonization of freshwater habitats by Ostracoda occurred a pproximately 60 million years earlier than previously known.