The
Bertie Waterlime is a fossil lagerstatten that provides
excellent examples of eurypterids and other rare arthropod
fossils. Dolostones in the Bertie Group can be used to
make cement that cures while under water, thus giving
it the name waterlime. Fossils are collected from formations
associated with the Bertie and Roundabout groups throughout
New York and into Ontario, Canada. The Bertie Waterlime
eurypterid containing dolostones represent a hypersaline
lagoon. The majority of eurypterids found represent molts.
Several species of eurypterids are found in these deposits. Eurypterus
remipes is the state fossil for New York. A variety
of marine life is preserved in the Bertie Waterlime dolostones.
Primitive horseshoe crabs, aquatic scorpians, phyllocarid
crustaceans, trilobite-like arthropods, gastropods, orthocone
cephalopods, brachiopods, and stromatolites have been
collected. A few examples of the land plant Cooksonia have
also been recovered. A variety of eurypterid species
have been found in deposits around the word representing
a time span of 100 million years (Ordovician to Permian).
One species of eurypterid reached a length of 2 meters,
making it the largest known arthropod to have existed
on Earth (Nudds & Selden, 2008, pp. 73-92).
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