If you’re out creek walking, the following fossils are those most widely found in this region.
Eurypterid
Did you know that the Eurypterid is the State of fossil of New York? You may have learned that the Eastern Bluebird is the state bird of New York, or the Rose is the state flower, but do you know the state fossil?
Eurypterids are an extinct group of arthropods related to the present-day horseshoe crab. Specimens vary in length from a few centimeters to over three meters. Eurypterids inhabited what is now western New York some 500 million years ago from the Ordovician Period through the Permian Period (250 million years ago) when they became extinct.
There are over 250 species of eurypterids in 73 valid genera, which began with the first eurypterid to be scientifically described in 1825.
Trilobites
Trilobites are an extinct group of marine arthropods that are recognized by their three-segmented form. They first appeared about 542 million years ago at the beginning of the Cambrian Period.
Other common fossils in the area include:
Brachiopods
Coral
Crinoids
Fossil Fish
Mastodon
Bryozoa
Fossil plants
Favosites hamiltoniae is a fossilized coral
Chilotrypa ostiolata is a fossilized bryozoan
Spirifer audaculus is an example of a fossilized brachiopod
A fossilized crinoid
A fossilized jaw of an extinct mastodon