Revising the late Cambrian time scale and the duration of the SPICE event using a novel Bayesian age modeling approach - Farrell, T.P.; Cothren, H.R.; Sundberg, F.A.; Schmitz, M.D.; Dehler, C.M.; E. Landing; Karlstrom, K.E.; Crossey, L.J.; Hagadorn, J.W. (Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2025)
We present a refined global Furongian (late Cambrian) time scale derived through the application of Bayesian age modeling, using an integrative assemblage of conditioning likelihoods (age constraints) including U-Pb zircon maximum depositional ages in the Steptoean positive isotopic carbon excursion (SPICE) reference section in Smithfield Canyon (Utah, USA) and nearby McPherson Canyon (Idaho, USA); Re-Os geochronology from the SPICE-bearing interval of the Andrarum-3 core (Scania, Sweden); and new high-precision chemical abrasion−isotope dilution−thermal ionization mass spectrometry U-Pb zircon tuff ages from Avalonian Wales. We embed these radioisotopic ages within a novel probabilistic treatment of biozones to establish temporal constraints on rock accumulation rates in the Great Basin (USA), the duration of the SPICE event, and Laurentian trilobite biozones correlated to the global Cambrian time scale. Results reveal a beginning of 494.5 (+0.7/−0.6) Ma and an end of 487.3 ± 0.08 Ma for the Furongian Epoch, representing a reduction of the traditional late Cambrian by ∼30% and an extension of the Ordovician by nearly half a million years. Furthermore, the SPICE is confined to a duration of 2.6 (+0.9/−0.8) m.y. Our new approach to integrating faunal succession into Bayesian age modeling can help to constrain rock accumulation rates and possible hiatuses in sections with limited radioisotopic ages. Additionally, it offers a robust calibration tool for further refining the numerical calibration of the geologic time scale, for testing hypotheses about the rates of trilobite evolution and extinction, for evaluating causes of the SPICE, and for constraining paleoclimatic conditions including atmospheric O2 levels.

Origin of big garnet amphibolites at Gore Mountain and other localities, Adirondack Mountains, New York State, USA: Whole-rock geochemical constraints - Hollocher, K.; Forgeng, H. M.; Stack, K. M.; Morgan, E.; Denny, A.; Lott, E. A. (Geosphere, 2025)

Comment: Carbonate production and reef building under ferruginous seawater conditions in the Cambrian rift branches of the Avalon Zone, Newfoundland by J.J. Álvaro and A. Mills, Sedimentology (71, 1245–1269) - E. Landing; G. Geyer (Sedimentology, 2025)

Museums and Policy - Gwendolyn W Saul (Practicing Anthropology, 2025)
The word “policy” is often used in conversation about government: foreign policy, national policy, and public health policy, to name a few examples. Politicians and health practitioners are not the only professionals creating and working with policy. Cultural anthropologists working across diverse communities and in numerous contexts also interact with policy and the processes to create effective policy. How does policy work function and evolve across multiple environments? What kinds of insight do cultural anthropologists offer in this realm of decision making, extoling values, and guiding action? In this short essay, I offer insight into the museum world and how museum collection policy informs our approaches to the physical, ethical, and intellectual care of objects.

Farmers with a Taste for Fish: New Insights into Iroquoian Foodways at the Dawson Site - Taché, K.; Tremblay, R.; Lucquin, A.; Admiraal, M.; J. P. Hart; Craig, O. E. (American Antiquity, 2025)
Iroquoian groups inhabiting the St. Lawrence Valley in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD practiced agriculture and supplemented their diet with fish and a variety of wild plants and terrestrial animals. Important gaps remain in our knowledge of Iroquoian foodways, including how pottery was integrated to culinary practices and the relative importance of maize in clay-pot cooking. Lipid analyses carried out on 32 potsherds from the Dawson site (Montreal, Canada) demonstrate that pottery from this village site was used to prepare a range of foodstuffs—primarily freshwater fish and maize, but possibly also other animals and plants. The importance of aquatic resources is demonstrated by the presence of a range of molecular compounds identified as biomarkers for aquatic products, whereas the presence of maize could only be detected through isotopic analysis. Bayesian modeling suggests that maize is present in all samples and is the dominant product in at least 40% of the potsherds analyzed. This combination of analytical techniques, applied for the first time to Iroquoian pottery, provides a glimpse into Iroquoian foodways and suggests that sagamité was part of the culinary traditions at the Dawson site
Keywords: Bayesian modeling; Iroquoians; lipid analysis; northeastern North America; Pottery

Bedrock Topography of Oswego County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Schuyler County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Tioga County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Forgeng, H. M.; Rogerson, J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Tompkins County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Oswego County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Schuyler County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Tioga County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Forgeng, H. M.; Rogerson, J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Tompkins County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Surficial Geology of the Alpine 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Chemung, Schuyler and Tompkins Counties, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Grasing, S.P.; Forgeng, H. M. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Luteodiscus gen. nov. (Hyphodiscaceae, Helotiales), with L. epibryus comb. nov. and L. hemiamyloideus sp. nov., two overlooked bryophilous ascomycetes with a wide host range - Baral, H-O.; Krieglsteiner, L. G.; Sochorová, Z.; Döbbeler, P.; Priou, J-P.; Stöckli, E.; Rubio, E.; Valade, F.; Bauer, G.; Hairaud, M.; Isaksson, R.; Greiff, G.; et al. (Mycological Progress, 2024)
The new genus Luteodiscus is established to accommodate two species of bryoparasitic, helotialean discomycetes which are characterized by small, yellow, subsessile or short-stipitate, smooth to finely fimbriate apothecia that turn irreversibly bright rose-pink to wine-red in KOH. One of them, L. epibryus, was previously placed in Phialea and later Hymenoscyphus and has euamyloid ascus apical rings (IKI blue, type BB), comparatively long ascospores with a low lipid content, and apothecia which turn yellow-orange when dry. The much rarer L. hemiamyloideus is newly described and has hemiamyloid apical rings (IKI red, type RR), smaller ascospores with a higher lipid content, and smaller apothecia which turn blood-red when dry. Although previously known only from two collections on Hypnum, L. epibryus was found to have one of the most extensive and heterogeneous host ranges of all currently known bryophilous ascomycetes, comprising 14 genera in 6 orders of mosses and 14 genera in 2 orders of liverworts, with a maximum occurrence on Hypnum, whereas L. hemiamyloideus occurred on 6 genera in 2 orders of liverworts, with a preference for Nowellia, but never on mosses. Both species are necrotrophic parasites, forming apothecia within often conspicuous necrotic zones among healthy shoots of the host populations. The host bryophytes have been noted to grow on woody substrates (dead stumps, logs, branches, sometimes living trunks) or on mineral matter (soil and rock). Luteodiscus epibryus was mainly found in areas with acidic bedrock, whereas L. hemiamyloideus occurs at equal frequency over alkaline and acidic soil types. Both species were found in semi-shaded to shaded forests but also in open wood- and shrublands, composed of various angiosperms and/or gymnosperms. While L. epibryus is here reported from Europe, Macaronesia, and North America, L. hemiamyloideus has so far solely been recorded in Europe. Although L. epibryus was found to be frequent in many regions, with so far 114 collections made mainly in the period of 1989–2024, only two collections with published descriptions came to our notice: the holotype from Czechia collected in 1906 and a much younger undated collection from dépt. Orne, France. In comparison, L. hemiamyloideus was recorded only 15 times during 2011–2024. Sequences of rDNA obtained from six collections of L. epibryus and two of L. hemiamyloideus revealed a strong difference between the two species, ranging at p-distances of 8.4–8.9% in the ITS region and 2.7–2.9% in the LSU D1–D2 domain. Two genotypes with a 0.8% p-distance in ITS and 0.2% in LSU were observed within L. epibryus, but without any expression in the phenotype. Combined phylogenetic analysis of ITS + LSU D1–D4 suggests that Luteodiscus belongs in Hyphodiscaceae.

Evaluating the Timing of Early Village Development in New York: More Dates from Classic New York Sites - Birch, J.; Manning, S. W; J. P. Hart; Lorentzen, B. (Radiocarbon, 2024)
Five sites in present-day New York have played important roles in archaeological narratives surrounding the development of settled village life in northeastern North America. Excavated in the mid-twentieth century, the Roundtop, Maxon-Derby, Sackett or Canandaigua, Bates, and Kelso sites include evidence related to the transition from semisedentary settlement-subsistence patterns during the twelfth through fourteenth centuries AD to those associated with fifteenth century and later settled Iroquoian villagers. Radiocarbon dates for each site were obtained early in the development of the method and again following the transition to AMS dating. Here, we present new or recently-published dates for these sites, combined with reliable existing dates in Bayesian models, including in some cases short tree-ring sequenced wiggle-matches on wood charcoal. Our results clarify the timing of each site’s occupation(s), revealing both continuity and discontinuity in the development of longhouse dwellings, sedentism, and the repeated re-use of some site locations over hundreds of years.
Keywords: AMS dating; Bayesian modeling; New York early villages

Bedrock Topography of Broome County, New York - Blake, A.; Rogerson, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Chenango County, New York - Blake, A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Livingston County, New York - Blake, A.; Rogerson, J.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Broome County, New York - Blake, A.; Rogerson, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Chenango County, New York - Blake, A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Livingston County, New York - Blake, A.; Rogerson, J.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Dogs from the past: Exploring morphology in mandibles from Iberian archaeological sites using 3D geometric morphometrics - Raquel Blázquez-Orta; Laura Rodríguez; Mónica Major González; Verónica Estaca-Gómez; Ignacio De Gaspar; R. S. Feranec; José Miguel Carretero; Juan Luis Arsuaga; Garcia, Nuria (Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2024)

Cliffs support lichen communities unique from nearby forests - Boggess, L. M.; Harrison, G. R.; Lendemer, J. C. (Basic and Applied Ecology, 2024)
Cliffs support rare, endemic, and glacial relict vegetation that may differ from vegetation in surrounding forests. Yet, cliffs are difficult to sample, and rock-dwelling lichens can be challenging to identify; therefore, cliff lichens are often excluded from biodiversity studies. This omission creates fundamental gaps in our understanding of cliff lichens that lead to underestimation of overall community diversity. This study addresses one such gap by asking a basic question: do lichen communities on cliffs differ from rock-dwelling lichen communities in forests? To answer this question, we compared lichen communities from three cliffs in the Linville Gorge (North Carolina, USA; 369 m2 of cliff face surveyed) to rock and soil-dwelling lichen communities in forested plots across the same region (Southern Appalachian Mountains, USA, Alabama to North Carolina; 198 1-hectare forested plots). Forest plots were further divided into three groups based on elevation, proximity to Linville Gorge cliffs, and location within the state of North Carolina. A total of 225 rock or soil-dwelling lichen species were found in forest plots throughout the study area, while 104 species were found on cliffs. Two rare cliff-specialist species, Canoparmelia alabamensis, and Chrysothrix susquehannensis, were locally abundant on the studied cliffs but absent from surrounding forests. Our results show that cliffs support 20% of regional rock-dwelling lichen diversity, and that these cliff communities are distinct from those in forests. The high diversity, occurrence of unique species, and presence of rare lichens on cliffs indicate that cliff lichens should be included in biodiversity inventories and stewardship plans. To support this inclusion, we provide the first checklist for the lichens of Linville Gorge. Checklists like this one, including both cliff and non-cliff lichens, provide data on regional diversity and rarity that inform lichen conservation and rock climbing management.

Disturbance and diversity: Lichen species richness decreases with increasing anthropogenic disturbance - Boggess, L. M.; McCain, C. M.; Manzitto-Tripp, E. A.; Pearson, S. M.; Lendemer, J. C. (Biological Conservation, 2024)
Anthropogenic disturbance is rapidly increasing through habitat degradation, development, and deforestation. Gaps remain in understanding the effects of this disturbance on diverse and ecologically important organisms such as lichens. In North America, studies have focused on epiphytic macrolichens and catastrophic disturbance, largely ignoring microlichens and less severe disturbances. The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis predicts these moderate disturbances will lead to higher species richness. Here we examine the effects of anthropogenic disturbance in the form of land management on overall lichen richness, including microlichens, and on the species richness of eight lichen functional groups. The study draws on a comprehensive data set of 872 species, in 208 one-hectare plots throughout the Southern Appalachian Mountains, a global biodiversity hotspot in eastern North America. A habitat quality index based on an established forestry metric was used as a proxy for anthropogenic disturbance and was quantified using a 10-part score including categories such as percent native tree canopy cover and degree of fragmentation. Linear models were used to compare habitat quality scores to overall species richness and to species richness of functional groups. Rather than following the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, all groups uniformly follow a negative linear relationship: as disturbance increases, species richness decreases. This pattern held even for widely variable functional groups such as morphotype. Effective conservation of lichen richness should prioritize the maintenance of existing older, less-disturbed stands within large, contiguously forested areas.

Xanthosyne (Lecanoraceae), a new genus for Lecidea varians and related species in Europe and North America - Brodo, I. M.; Lendemer, J. C.; Harris, R. C.; McMullin, R. T.; López de Silanes, M. E.; van Miltenburg, N.; Bull, R.; Paradis, M.; Ginter, A. (The Bryologist, 2024)
<text class="ArticleContentText"> Lecidea varians is among the most common and abundant bark-dwelling crustose lichens in temperate eastern North America. As presently delimited, it is highly variable, including chemical and morphological diversity well beyond that currently accepted for most lichen species. The generic placement of L. varians has also been questioned for decades. It has long been recognized as aberrant in Lecidea and Pyrrhospora, excluded from Lecidella, and more recently transferred to Traponora. Drawing from the results of extensive chemical, molecular phylogenetic and morphological studies, we show that L. varians and its relatives represent a previously unrecognized lineage within the speciose lichen family Lecanoraceae. The lineage appears to occupy an isolated position, distinct from the aforementioned genera, and is newly described as the genus Xanthosyne (typified by L. varians). The chemical and morphological variation within L. varians is mirrored by, but not entirely correlated with, considerable molecular diversity. A new taxonomy is proposed for L. varians and its relatives to serve as a framework for future studies. Three species are recognized: X. varians (≡ Lecidea varians), common and widespread in parts of North America; X. granularis, a new species from the Atlantic Coast of eastern North America that differs morphologically from X. varians in having a leprose thallus; and X. sharnoffiorum, a new species also found mainly along the Atlantic Coast of eastern North America, which has a coarsely granular, non-leprose thallus and produces a unique, unidentified xanthone. Multiple well-supported lineages were recovered within X. varians that correlate to varying degrees with chemical and morphological variability, as well as geographic distribution. Eight subspecies are recognized to accommodate the variation within X. varians: X. varians subsp. exigua comb. nov. (≡ Lecidea exigua) characterized by the presence of atranorin and a consistent set of three xanthones, is widespread in southern Europe and western North America (coastal California); X. varians subsp. varians (≡ Lecidea varians) is distributed mainly in northeastern North America and produces thuringione and arthothelin; X. varians subsp. morsei subsp. nov. is morphologically and chemically variable, with one chemotype (thiophanic acid) with a northeastern distribution, and the other with a unique and unidentified xanthone, found mainly in the interior U.S.A.; X. varians subsp. obscura subsp. nov. occurs mainly in the central U.S.A. and North Temperate regions, produces a unique, unidentified xanthone and generally has black apothecia with green epihymenial pigments; X. varians subsp. pseudomorsei subsp. nov. and X. varians subsp. submorsei subsp. nov. resemble X. varians subsp. morsei but differ in molecular sequence characters; X. varians subsp. subtilis comb. nov. (≡ Lecidea subtilis) and X. varians subsp. subexigua subsp. nov. occur in the Appalachian Mountains, the former producing atranorin and the latter lacking atranorin, both with thiophanic acid with or without other xanthones. In an addendum, Lecidella subviridis is discussed with respect to the genus Xanthosyne. An identification key is provided for all species and their subspecies within Xanthosyne. </text>

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey of PIN 1722.69.101, Nelson Avenue Extension over Interstate 87 Proposed Bridge Replacement Project, City of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York - J. S. Cardinal (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Information, Entanglement, and Emergent Social Norms: Searching for ‘Normal’ - J. S. Cardinal; Loughmiller-Cardinal, Jennifer Ann (Societies, 2024)

Cultural Resource Site Examination Report: Nesting Osprey Precontact Site, Gill Site, and Cayuga and Seneca Canal Site, PIN 3076.23.121, New York State Route 5 and United States Route 20 over Seneca River, Town of Montezuma, Cayuga County, New York - H. Clark; B. R. Dale; D. E. Mazeau; J. S. Cardinal (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Archaeological Monitoring Plan, PIN 0810.38, Meadowbrook State Parkway and Merrick Road Interchange, Village of Freeport, Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York - B. R. Dale (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Archaeological Monitoring Plan, PIN 3043.65, United States Route 11 Bridge over Oneida River, Towns of Cicero and Hastings, Onondaga and Oswego Counties, New York - B. R. Dale; Dubuque, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Phase 1 Archaeological Survey Report, New Sidewalk and Reinterment Area, Lake George Battlefield Park, Village of Lake George, Warren County, New York. - B. R. Dale (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Assessing the influence of body size on patterns of dietary niche segregation among the ungulate community in Yellowstone National Park, USA - Eastham, L. C.; R. S. Feranec (Mammalian Biology, 2024)
Evaluating the factors that promote coexistence between ecologically similar species is crucial to understanding the evolution and assembly of herbivore communities. The Jarman–Bell principle presents a trade-off between diet quality and quantity as an axis for dietary niche segregation and has been suggested as a mechanism facilitating species coexistence. This idea holds that larger-bodied herbivores consume greater amounts of relatively low-quality plant resources, while smaller-bodied herbivores typically feed selectively on higher-quality resources. Most studies investigating the Jarman–Bell principle have examined free-living ungulates in African savannas. The diverse ungulate community in Yellowstone National Park, USA offers an opportunity to investigate the applicability of this principle in a temperate North American ecosystem. In this study we use fecal nitrogen (FN) and stable carbon isotope values (δ13C) to examine the relationship between body size and seasonal patterns of dietary niche segregation among five species of wild ungulates. Specifically, we test the predictions that: (1) diet quality decreases with increasing body mass, (2) interspecific differences in diet are greatest between the largest- and smallest-bodied species, and (3) smaller-bodied species have narrower dietary breadth than larger-bodied species. Diet quality, as indicated by digestibility, declined significantly with body mass, consistent with the empirical pattern predicted by the Jarman–Bell hypothesis. Significant interspecific differences in diet quality generally aligned with variation in body mass. When resources were limited during the winter, the relationship between body mass and diet quality was more pronounced, suggesting increased dietary niche segregation during the lean season. The results showed little evidence indicating that dietary breadth scaled allometrically with body mass, as the two species most similar in body mass displayed the greatest and least range of seasonal variation in both FN and δ13C. This study adds to the weight and breadth of evidence that diet quality is negatively correlated with body size in wild ungulate assemblages. Our findings underscore the importance of body size as a factor facilitating dietary niche segregation and promoting coexistence among ecologically similar ungulate species.

Bedrock Topography of Chemung County, New York - Forgeng, H. M.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Niagara County, New York - Forgeng, H. M.; Alrubay, A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Yates County, New York - Forgeng, H. M.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Chemung County, New York - Forgeng, H. M.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Niagara County, New York - Forgeng, H. M.; Alrubay, A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Yates County, New York - Forgeng, H. M.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Geology of the Page 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Lewis County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Erie County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Monroe County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Ontario County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Erie County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Monroe County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Ontario County, New York - Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey for PIN 7143.46.121, United States Route 11 Bridge Replacement, Town of Moira, Franklin County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Cattaraugus County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Cortland County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Madison County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Oneida County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Wyoming County, New York - Grasing, S.P.; Blake, A.; Rogerson, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Cattaraugus County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Cortland County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Madison County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Oneida County, New York - Grasing, S.P. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Wyoming County, New York - Grasing, S.P.; Blake, A.; Rogerson, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Surficial Geology of the Altamont 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Albany and Schenectady Counties, New York - Grasing, S.P.; Leone, J.; A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Geology of the White Plains 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Westchester County, New York - Hall, L. M.; Manchester, J.; Bird, B. C.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

New Trends in Prehistoric North-eastern North American Agriculture Evidence: A View from Central New York - J. P. Hart (Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Diet, 2024)

A Rapid Dispersal of Maize from the Great Plains to Northeastern North America - J. P. Hart (Quaternary Science Reviews, 2024)
Northern Flint maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) is a distinct landrace that was common throughout early historical northeastern North America. It is likely represented archaeologically as Eastern 8-row maize, the dominant form there after 1200 CE. Genetic analyses indicate that Northern Flint is most likely derived from maize in the American Southwest. Evidence for maize in the form of phytoliths and starch recovered from directly radiocarbon dated cooking residues occurs in the Northeast by 290 BCE. Until recently there has been no substantiated evidence for maize of similar or older age in the Great Plains, through which maize is likely to have dispersed from the Southwest. A recent report of early microbotanical evidence for maize from the central Plains allows Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon dates to estimate the amount of time that elapsed before maize spread from the Plains to the Northeast. Results indicate only a short amount of time elapsed, from a few to less than 170 years.
Keywords: Adaptation; Bayesian analysis; maize; North America

Revisiting the Roundtop Site: Toward a More Complete Occupational History - J. P. Hart (Archaeology of Eastern North America, 2024)
The Roundtop site was reported by William A. Ritchie in a chapter of his 1973 volume with Robert E. Funk, Aboriginal Settlement Patterns of the Northeast. Ritchie interpreted the site as an eleventh-century AD village with two overlapping longhouse patterns and macrobotanical remains of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), and squash (Cucurbita pepo). Based on that report the site became established in the literature as having the earliest evidence for longhouses and maize-bean-squash agriculture in the Northeast. Ritchie’s dating of the site was based on a single radiocarbon date on a large sample of wood charcoal and the potteryassemblage, which he associated primarily with the Carpenter Brook phase (AD 1000-1100) of his Owasco culture (AD 1000-1300). He considered other late pre-contact occupations of the site as transitory. New radiocarbon dates reported in 1999 and 2000 and recent Bayesian modeling of those radiocarbon dates suggest that the later occupations were more substantial than Ritchie suggested. Here I report four additional radiocarbon dates, new Bayesian modeling of all available Roundtop dates, and an analysis of the site’s complete pottery assemblage. The results further clarify the site’s history and substantiate the importance of post-1100 AD occupations at the site.

Two new species of lichenicolous Arthonia (Arthoniaceae) from southeastern North America highlight the need for comparative studies of lichen parasites and their hosts - Hollinger, J. P.; Scott, P. A.; Lendemer, J. C. (The Bryologist, 2024)
Arthonia frostiicola and A. galligena are described as new to science based on collections from mountainous regions of southeastern North America. Arthonia frostiicola infects the saxicolous lichen Dirinaria frostii, producing emarginate black apothecia which erupt from within the host thallus. It is characterized by a dark hypothecium and 1-septate, obovoid ascospores which turn brownish and verruculose in age. It is known from five collections made in the southern Appalachian Mountains and Ozark Mountains in southeastern North America. Arthonia galligena produces galls in the thallus and apothecia of the corticolous lichens Lecanora masana and L. rugosella, and is apparently endemic to the high elevations of the southern Appalachian Mountains. It is characterized by a variably pigmented, pale to red-brown hypothecium and 2-septate, macrocephalic ascospores which turn brownish and verruculose in age. Keys to the species of Arthonia on Caliciales and Lecanoraceae are provided.
Keywords: biodiversity; endemism; host-parasite relationships; lichenicolous fungi; New taxa; taxonomy

A National Park for Women’s Rights: The Campaign That Made It Happen by Judy Hart (review) - A Hopkins-Benton (New York History, 2024)

World of Crayfish™: a web platform towards real-time global mapping of freshwater crayfish and their pathogens - Ion, M. C.; Bloomer, C. C.; Bărăscu, T. I.; Oficialdegui, F. J.; Shoobs, N. F.; Williams, B. W.; Scheers, K.; Clavero, M.; Grandjean, F.; Collas, M.; Baudry, T.; Loughman, Z.; et al. (PeerJ, 2024)
Freshwater crayfish are amongst the largest macroinvertebrates and play a keystone role in the ecosystems they occupy. Understanding the global distribution of these animals is often hindered due to a paucity of distributional data. Additionally, non-native crayfish introductions are becoming more frequent, which can cause severe environmental and economic impacts. Management decisions related to crayfish and their habitats require accurate, up-to-date distribution data and mapping tools. Such data are currently patchily distributed with limited accessibility and are rarely up-to-date. To address these challenges, we developed a versatile e-portal to host distributional data of freshwater crayfish and their pathogens (using Aphanomyces astaci, the causative agent of the crayfish plague, as the most prominent example). Populated with expert data and operating in near real-time, World of Crayfish™ is a living, publicly available database providing worldwide distributional data sourced by experts in the field. The database offers open access to the data through specialized standard geospatial services (Web Map Service, Web Feature Service) enabling users to view, embed, and download customizable outputs for various applications. The platform is designed to support technical enhancements in the future, with the potential to eventually incorporate various additional features. This tool serves as a step forward towards a modern era of conservation planning and management of freshwater biodiversity.

Rust HUBB: DNA barcode-based identification of PuccinialesAbstract - Kaishian, P.; Layug, C. R. K.; Anderson, M.; Berg, D. R.; Aime, M. C. (IMA Fungus, 2024)
Rust fungi (Pucciniales, Basidiomycota) are a species-rich (ca. 8000 species), globally distributed order of obligate plant pathogens. Rust species are host-specific, and as a group they cause disease on many of our most economically and/or ecologically significant plants. As such, the ability to accurately and rapidly identify these fungi is of particular interest to mycologists, botanists, agricultural scientists, farmers, quarantine officials, and associated stakeholders. However, the complexities of the rust life cycle, which may include production of up to five different spore types and alternation between two unrelated host species, have made standard identifications, especially of less-documented spore states or alternate hosts, extremely difficult. The Arthur Fungarium (PUR) at Purdue University is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of rust fungi in the world. Using material vouchered in PUR supplemented with fresh collections we generated DNA barcodes of the 28S ribosomal repeat from > 3700 rust fungal specimens. Barcoded material spans 120 genera and > 1100 species, most represented by several replicate sequences. Barcodes and associated metadata are hosted in a publicly accessible, BLAST searchable database called Rust HUBB (Herbarium-based Universal Barcode Blast) and will be continuously updated.

A tectonic solution for the Early Cambrian palaeogeographic enigma - Keppie, D. F.; Keppie, J. D.; E. Landing (Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2024)
The Early Cambrian paleogeographic enigma arises when tectonic reconstructions are made using palaeoclimatic versus palaeomagnetic data that result in possibly contradictory tropical, mid-latitude, and south polar locations for major continents. For example, northwest Africa and Cadomia may have lain in a tropical zone (0° to +/−30° latitude) based on the presence of archaeocyath reefs, minor evaporites, and carbonate platforms at ca. 520 Ma +/− 5 Ma or, alternatively, northwest Africa and Cadomia may have lain in a south polar zone (90° to 60° south latitude) based on palaeomagnetic constraints. Greater Avalonia may have evolved independently from northwest Africa if a dropstone constraint implying polar latitudes at ca. 530 Ma and a palaeomagnetic constraint implying ca. 50° latitude at ca. 505 Ma are accommodated. We show here how counter-clockwise rotation of Gondwana during the Cambrian about an interior axis may solve the enigma. Gondwanan apparent polar wander becomes consistent with tropical conditions inferred for northwest Africa when adjusted to accommodate constraints placing the south pole near Peru for ca. 540–520 Ma. Concurrent counter-clockwise rotation of Baltica and Gondwana during the Middle Cambrian may have facilitated separation of Greater Avalonia from Baltica across dextral shear zones.

Surficial and Subsurface Geology of Cayuga County, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J.; Leone, J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Surficial Geology of the Livingstonville 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Albany, Greene and Schoharie Counties, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Typification of the Lace Lichen,Ramalina menziesii Taylor—and its synonyms—reiterates the need for complete typification of names for well‐known or iconic taxa - LaGreca, S.; Tocci, G. E.; Briscoe, L.; Lendemer, J. C. (TAXON, 2024)
A lectotype is designated for the name of the iconic and well-known macrolichen Ramalina menziesii Taylor from among a suite of largely overlooked syntypes deposited in the Thomas Taylor Herbarium at the Farlow Herbarium, Harvard University. Lectotypes are also selected for the synonyms of R. menziesii: Chlorodictyon foliosum, Ramalina reticulata (≡ Lichen reticulatus Noehd., nom. illeg.) and R. retiformis. The place of publication of L. reticulatus Noehd. is discussed in detail. The case highlights the surprising degree to which the application of names for taxa that have been extensively studied and are widely known outside a narrow specialist field, can remain unresolved.

Psychedelic New York: A History of LSD in the City by Chris Elcock (review) - Lander, D. R. (New York History, 2024)

Lester Park: Global "Type Locality" for Stromatolite Fossils - E. Landing; Bartholomew, A. (GSA Today, 2024)

Stark’s Knob: A New Plate TectonicsModel—First Volcano Described from a Subducting Plate Margin - E. Landing; Bartholomew, A. J. (GSA Today, 2024)
Author Ken Burns saw the founding of the National Park System in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as “America’s best idea” (Duncan and Burns, 2011).This preservation ethic was mirrored in New York State during World War I by donations of five unique sites to the State Regents via the charismatic New York State Museum (NYSM) Director John M.Clarke. These eastern and central New York sites became “Scientific Reservations.” All were subsumed by the New York State Parks system in 1929 (Flick, 1929), but, inexplicably, the easternmost, smallest, and geologically most significant sites, the Stark’s Knob pillow basalt (Fig. 1) and Lester Park’s classic stromatolites, remained under the NYSM. Not maintained for decades, they were restored by Ed Landing with volunteers by removal of junk cars, garbage, overgrowth, and trees,and installation of interpretive signs (Landing, 2004). These “teach yourself geology” sites were designated State Geoparks in 2019 by the state legislature. Both Geoparks can be visited year-round. They must be seen as irreplaceable—do not damage or collect anything.

Stromatolites and Their “Kin” as Living Microbialites in Contemporary Settings Linked to a Long Fossil Record - E. Landing; Johnson, M. E. (Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2024)
Organo-sedimentary deposits that result from fine-grained sediment trapping, binding, and likely precipitation (of carbonate) by microbes in flat-mat, branching, and dome-shaped constructions are termed microbialites. They were first identified as stromatolites by paleontologists well before the discovery of cyanobacteria that build the same kinds of structures in contemporary settings around the world. Earth’s earliest life forms were prokaryotes (bacteria and bacteria-like forms) that reproduced under anaerobic conditions and later produced increasingly aerobic conditions. Stromatolites persisted through later Archean and Proterozoic times through the subsequent Phanerozoic to the present. At the start of the Cambrian Period 538 million years ago, stromatolites continued alongside rapidly diversifying plant and animal phyla during the Cambrian explosion of eukaryotic life, which have complex cells with internal structures and tissue-grade organization in multicellular taxa. The type locality exhibiting clear examples of stromatolite structures is conserved at Lester Park near Saratoga Springs in northeastern New York State. Paleontologist James Hall (1811–1898) was the first in 1884 to assign a Latin binomen (Cryptozoon proliferum) to stromatolite fossils from Lester Park. Thereafter, reports on formally named stromatolites proliferated, as did examples from virtually all subsequent geological time intervals including the Pleistocene Epoch. However, recognition that living cyanobacteria formed stromatolites identified as Cryptozoon took place much later in 1961 with the announcement by geologist Brian W. Logan (1933–2008) who described modern constructions in Hamlin Pool, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Initially, Shark Bay was regarded as a one-of-a-kind sanctuary for stromatolites living under restricted conditions with elevated levels of salinity that prohibited competition or grazing by eukaryotes. Most notably, among other settings with living stromatolites discovered and described since then are the Bahamas, East African rift lakes, Mexico’s Baja California, and saline lakes in Argentina. This report reviews the history of discoveries of modern-day stromatolites, more commonly called microbialites by biologists. All are predicated on the ground-breaking efforts of geologists and paleontologists who first described fossil stromatolites but were unaware of their living counterparts. The Lester Park locality is highlighted together with a master list of other North American localities that feature purported Cryptozoons.

Terminal Ediacaran-Late Ordovician evolution of the NE Laurentia palaeocontinent: rift–drift-onset of Taconic orogeny, sea-level change, and ‘Hawke Bay’ onlap (not offlap) - E. Landing; Webster, M.; Bowser, S. S. (Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2024)
Rodinia breakup with late Ediacaran rifting defined a NE Laurentia triple junction (New York Promontory-Ottawa-Bonnechere aulacogen (OBA)-Quebec Reentrant). Rifting persisted to c. 510 Ma. The oldest passive margin shelf units (Forestdale, Moosalamoo) underlie a sandstone (Cheshire) commonly regarded as the oldest passive unit. Late Dyeran–Middle Cambrian rifting led to the oldest OBa sedimentation and formed the Franklin Basin (NW Vermont). Cambrian-Darriwillian shelf-slope facies are linked eustatically-not Taconic orogeny onset. Onlap and shelf carbonates are coeval with black slope mud; lowstand shelf unconformities with green, oxic slope mud. Early-middle Dyeran eustatic change defined slope units: 1) Browns Pond dysoxic/anoxic (d/a) interval with debrite cap (Holcombville Member, new); 2) Middle Granville oxic interval (new); and 3) lower Hatch Hill d/a interval. Our analysis leads to two controversial conclusions: (i) existence of the Dashwoods and other micro-continental blocks due to hyper-extension is not supported by cover sequences linking Laurentia to proposed Dashwoods areas (i.e., Green Mountains) and an arc origin of the type Dashwoods, and (ii) ‘Hawke Bay Event(s),’ widely interpreted as Cambrian global regressive event(s), is a local HST facies with shelf sand by-pass onto the Hatch Hill slope in its NE Laurentia type region.

Unconformity-bounded rift sequences in Terreneuvian−Miaolingian strata of the Caledonian Highlands, Atlantic Canada: Comment - E. Landing; Geyer, G.; Westrop, S. R.; Wotte, T. (Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2024)

Public History Review - J. A. Lemak (New York History, 2024)

Abraham Halsey: Forgotten pioneer of New York City botany and North American lichenology - Lendemer, J. C. (The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 2024)
<text class="ArticleContentText"> Abraham Halsey published the first checklist of New York City lichens in 1823. It was the first work focused on lichens in North America. Study of this baseline—among the oldest, most comprehensive outside of Europe—has been complicated because the supporting vouchers were believed destroyed in an 1866 fire that consumed the collections of the New York Lyceum, predecessor of the New York Academy of Sciences. The discovery of Halsey's collection in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden herbarium is reported here. The history and contents of the collection are discussed in detail, updated identifications are provided for all specimens, Halsey's checklist is updated to modern taxonomic concepts, and the 1823 baseline is compared to the present day. The collection contains 265 specimens, 126 of which are vouchers that correspond to 114 of the 190 names from his published checklist. An additional 88 specimens appear to be post-1823 collections from New York made by Halsey. In total, Halsey's New York City specimens correspond to 129 species, of which only 18 now occur in the region. Shifts in the lichen biota of New York City, occurring after near-complete extirpation in the 1960s, followed by subsequent recolonization, demonstrate modern trends toward lower foliose and fruticose lichen diversity, lower diversity of sexually reproducing taxa, and lower diversity of taxa that associate with ecologically restricted photobionts such as Trentepohlia and cyanobacteria. The historical lichen communities of the area resembled those of existing remnant mature and old-growth high-quality habitats in the Central Appalachian Mountains and Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. It is shown that the authorship of the eight new taxa described in the 1823 checklist should be attributed to Halsey, and the taxonomic identity of each taxon is discussed in detail. Cetraria viridis (≡ Vulpicida viridis) is lectotypified and the prior neotype overturned, Lecidea versicolor is neotypified and placed in synonymy with Xanthosyne varians, Pyrenula enteroleuca is lectotypified and placed in synonymy with Conotrema urceolatum, Verrucaria composita is lectotypified, transferred to Viridothelium as V. compositum, and the common V. virens is placed in synonymy and lectotypified. The original material of Spiloma roseum Halsey nom. illeg. is shown to be conspecific with Coniarthonia pyrrhula. The identities of Lecanora juglandina and Lecanora irregularis remain unresolved. This study resurrects the legacy of a pioneering naturalist whose work came to be reduced to a lichenological footnote and whose role in New York City botany has been largely forgotten. This study also highlights the value of natural history collections in reconstructing historical ecosystems, contextualizing centuries of human-mediated environmental change, and informing conservation. It illustrates the wealth of irreplaceable information in New York State botanical collections, and the urgent need to assure that these are preserved, digitized, and most importantly, continuously restudied. Importantly, archival records newly reported on here unequivocally dispute the historical narrative that the herbarium of the New York Lyceum was destroyed by fire and instead suggest it survived in the Mercantile Library Association at Astor Place in Manhattan. The present-day whereabouts of this invaluable herbarium are unknown, and it is likely unnoticed and unrecognized in an institutional library or archive somewhere in the New York City metropolitan region. </text>

Torrey Monograph Award Recipient - Lendemer, J. C. (The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 2024)

Testing the salinity of Cambrian to Silurian epicratonic seas - Liu, Z.; Algeo, T. J.; Arefifard, S.; Wei, W.; Brett, C.; E. Landing; Lev, S. M. (Journal of the Geological Society, 2024)
Ancient epicratonic formations, which represent the bulk of pre-Jurassic sedimentary rocks, have been widely interpreted as marine deposits, but recently developed bulk-shale elemental proxies for paleo-watermass salinity (i.e., B/Ga, Sr/Ba, and S/TOC) have shown this inference to be frequently incorrect. Here, we use these proxies to test the salinity conditions of 22 representative shale and marl formations of early Cambrian to early Silurian age from five cratons (Laurentia, Avalonia, Baltica, Iran and South China) in the context of formation-specific paleogeographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions. Our dataset shows that around half of these formations were probably deposited under brackish or mixed brackish-marine conditions rather than fully marine conditions (as previously inferred), and that one of them represents a freshwater facies (previously interpreted as marine mainly on the basis of Cruziana traces). In most cases, the development of reduced-salinity conditions can be related to the coastal and/or humid climate belt setting in which the formation of interest was deposited. Our dataset also reveals systematically low Sr/Ba values (i.e., relative to modern brackish and marine facies), suggesting that seawater Sr concentrations were lower during the Early Paleozoic than in the modern. Our findings suggest that re-evaluation of the salinity characteristics of many ancient epicratonic shale and marl formations is necessary.

An Architectural Survey of PIN 2065.39.101, New York State Route 12B: Wings Way to Preston Hill Road, Village of Hamilton and Towns of Madison and Hamilton, Madison County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Historic American Engineering Record, NY Route 33A/Chili Avenue Bridge Spanning the Erie Canal, City of Rochester and Town of Gates, Monroe County, New York. - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Structure Documentation: Route 218/Storm King Highway over Unknown Stream Culvert, Town of Cornwall, Orange County, New York - LoRusso, M.S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Classic Maya Tobacco Flasks Production and Replication. - Loughmiller-Cardinal, Jennifer; Eppich, Keith E.; J. S. Cardinal (Archaeologies of Smoking, Pipes and Transatlantic Connections. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology., 2024)

A Free Black Potter in Early Nineteenth Century America: Archaeological Evidence of Thomas Commeraw Pottery in Manhattan Households - Michael T. Lucas; MacLean, J.S. (The Bulletin and Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association, 2024)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey Report for PIN 2065.39.101, New York State Route 12B Pavement Reconstruction and Safety Improvement Project, Village and Town of Hamilton, Madison County, New York. - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey Report for PIN 4015.47.102, Corridor Safety Enhancement Project, Route 15 from Jefferson Road to I-390 in the Towns of Henrietta and Brighton, Monroe County, New York. - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey Report for PIN 8813.53.201, Replacement of United States Route 6 Culvert over Putnam Creek, Town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York. - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

News from the New York State Museum Cultural Resource Survey Program- Campsites, Quarries, and Chicken Inspectors: CRSP in Westchester - D. E. Mazeau (New York Archaeological Council 2024 Newsletter, 2024)

Archaeological Monitoring Report, PIN 1007.16.321, BIN 1038070, New York State Route 144 over Hannacrois Creek Bridge Replacement, Town of Coeymans, Albany County, New York - Moragne, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey Report, PIN 4036.33.121, New York State Route 36 and Perry Road Intersection Safety Improvements, Town of Leicester, Livingston County, New York - Moragne, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Steuben County, New York - Mundell, H.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Steuben County, New York - Mundell, H.; Frieman, R.A. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Spongy-looking microfabrics in the earliest named stromatolite represent deep burial alteration and incipient metamorphism - Neuweiler, F.; Mueller, M.; Walter, B. F.; E. Landing; Beranoaguirre, A.; Sendino, C.; L. Amati; Kershaw, S. (Scientific Reports, 2024)
The earliest named stromatolite Cryptozoon Hall, 1884 (Late Cambrian, ca. 490 Ma, eastern New York State), was recently re-interpreted as an interlayered microbial mat and non-spiculate (keratosan) sponge deposit. This “classic stromatolite” is prominent in a fundamental debate concerning the significance or even existence of non-spiculate sponges in carbonate rocks from the Neoproterozoic (Tonian) onwards. Cryptozoon has three types of microbially-induced carbonate layers: clotted-pelletoidal micrite with microbial filaments, clotted-pelletoidal micrite with vesicular structure, and dense microcrystalline laminae. A fourth, stratiform to patchy fabric comprises suspect sponges. Using contextual fabric analysis, elemental mapping, cathodoluminescence, fluid inclusions, electron backscatter diffraction, U–Pb dating, and burial history, the sponge interpretation is denied. Neither a distinct sponge body outline nor a canal system is identifiable. Instead, the suspect fabric is secondary in origin, and best explained as a product of Carboniferous (Mississippian) deep burial alteration associated with basement reactivation. Key petrographic observations include heterogenous recrystallization via aggrading Ostwald ripening with interfingering reaction fronts typical for partially miscible fluids, a granoblastic calcite texture (incipient metamorphism), and subsequent hypidioblastic white mica (arguably Carboniferous/Permian, Alleghenian orogeny). Topotype Cryptozoon is a stromatolite altered to sub-greenschist metacarbonate. The published Tonian to Phanerozoic record of interpreted non-s​p​i​c​u​l​a​t​e​

American Relics and the Politics of Public Memory by Matthew Dennis (review) - Noble, A. (New York History, 2024)

Henry Johnson: Ballad of a Forgotten Hero by Rachel Lynett (review) - Noble, A. (New York History, 2024)

New age constraints reveal moraine stabilization thousands of years after deposition during the last deglaciation of western New York, USA - Prince, K. K.; Briner, J. P.; Walcott, C. K.; Chase, B. M.; A. L. Kozlowski; Rittenour, T. M.; Yang, E. P. (Geochronology, 2024)
The timing of the last deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in western New York is poorly constrained. The lack of direct chronology in the region has led to a hypothesis that the Laurentide Ice Sheet re-advanced to near its Last Glacial Maximum terminal position in western New York at ∼ 13 ka, which challenges long-standing datasets. To address this hypothesis, we obtained new chronology from the Kent (terminal) and Lake Escarpment (first major recessional) moraines using radiocarbon ages in sediment cores from moraine kettles supplemented with two optically stimulated luminescence ages from topset beds in an ice-contact delta. The two optically stimulated luminescence ages date the Kent (terminal) position to 19.8 ± 2.6 and 20.6 ± 2.9 ka. Within the sediment cores, there is sedimentological evidence of an unstable landscape during basin formation; radiocarbon ages from the lowest sediments in our cores are not in stratigraphic order and date from 19 350–19 600 to 14 050–14 850 cal BP. We interpret these ages as loosely minimum-limiting constraints on ice sheet retreat. Our oldest radiocarbon age of 19 350–19 600 cal BP – from a rip-up clast – suggests ice-free conditions at that time. Above the lowest sediments there is organic-rich silt and radiocarbon ages in stratigraphic order. We interpret the lowest ages in these organic-rich sediments as minimum-limiting constraints on kettle basin formation. The lowest radiocarbon ages from organic-rich sediments from sites on both Kent and Lake Escarpment moraines range from 15 000–15 400 to 13 600–14 000 cal BP. We interpret the 5 kyr lag between t​h​e​ optically stimulated luminescence ages and kettle basin formation as the result of persistent buried ice in ice-cored moraines until ∼ 15 to 14 ka. The cold conditions associated with Heinrich Stadial 1 may have enabled the survival of ice-cored moraines until after 15 ka, and, in turn, climate amelioration during the Bølling period (14.7–14.1 ka) may have initiated landscape stabilization. This model potentially reconciles the sedimentological and chronological evidence underpinning the re-advance hypothesis, which instead could be the result of moraine instability and sediment mobilization during the Bølling–Allerød periods (14.7–13 ka). Age control for future work should focus on features that are not dependent on local climate.

Phylogeny of the genus Loxospora s.l. (Sarrameanales, Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota), with Chicitaea gen. nov. and five new combinations in Chicitaea and Loxospora - Ptach-Styn, Ł.; Guzow-Krzemińska, B.; Lendemer, J. C.; Tønsberg, T.; Kukwa, M. (MycoKeys, 2024)
Loxospora is a genus of crustose lichens containing 13 accepted species that can be separated into two groups, based on differences in secondary chemistry that correlate with differences in characters of the sexual reproductive structures (asci and ascospores). Molecular phylogenetic analyses recovered these groups as monophyletic and support their recognition as distinct genera that differ in phenotypic characters. Species containing 2’-O-methylperlatolic acid are transferred to the new genus, Chicitaea Guzow-Krzem., Kukwa & Lendemer and four new combinations are proposed: C. assateaguensis (Lendemer) Guzow-Krzem., Kukwa & Lendemer, C. confusa (Lendemer) Guzow-Krzem., Kukwa & Lendemer, C. cristinae (Guzow-Krzem., Łubek, Kubiak & Kukwa) Guzow-Krzem., Kukwa & Lendemer and C. lecanoriformis (Lumbsch, A.W. Archer & Elix) Guzow-Krzem., Kukwa & Lendemer. The remaining species produce thamnolic acid and represent Loxospora s.str. Haplotype analyses recovered sequences of L. elatina in two distinct groups, one corresponding to L. elatina s.str. and one to Pertusaria chloropolia, the latter being resurrected from synonymy of L. elatina and, thus, requiring the combination, L. chloropolia (Erichsen) Ptach-Styn, Guzow-Krzem., Tønsberg & Kukwa. Sequences of L. ochrophaea were found to be intermixed within the otherwise monophyletic L. elatina s.str. These two taxa, which differ in contrasting reproductive mode and overall geographic distributions, are maintained as distinct, pending further studies with additional molecular loci. Lectotypes are selected for Lecanora elatina, Pertusaria chloropolia and P. chloropolia f. cana. The latter is a synonym of Loxospora chloropolia. New primers for the amplification of mtSSU are also presented.
Keywords: Lichenised fungi; mtSSU; nuITS; phylogeny; RPB1; Sarrameanaceae; secondary metabolites; sorediate lichens; sterile lichens; taxonomy

The Historic Woodstock Art Colony: The Arthur A. Anderson Collection - Quinn, K. E. (Excelsior Editions, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Allegany County, New York - Rogerson, J.; Blake, A.; Frieman, R.A.; Forgeng, H. M. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Bedrock Topography of Onondaga County, New York - Rogerson, J.; Blake, A.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Allegany County, New York - Rogerson, J.; Blake, A.; Frieman, R.A.; Forgeng, H. M. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Drift Thickness of Onondaga County, New York - Rogerson, J.; Blake, A.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2024)

Architectural Survey of PIN 5011.37.121, Pavement Project, New York State Route 93, Village of Youngstown, Niagara County, New York. - V. A. Schmitt; A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Architectural Survey of PIN 5110.16.101, ADA/Pedestrian Improvement Project, New York State Route 474, BIN 1029820 to Clymer Hill/Caflisch Roads, Town of Clymer, Chautauqua County, New York - V. A. Schmitt; A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Architectural Survey of PIN 5181.10.101 Safety Project, New York State Route 270 from North French Road to Tonawanda Creek Road, Town of Amherst, Erie County, New York - V. A. Schmitt; A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Structure Documentation: North Salem Stone Box Culvert, Small Culvert Replacement (Future C871009), New York State Route 116 over Tributary of Titicus River, Town of North Salem, Westchester County, New York - V. A. Schmitt; A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

The contribution of tropical long-term studies to mycology - Stallman, J. K.; Haelewaters, D.; Koch Bach, R. A.; Brann, M.; Fatemi, S.; Gomez-Zapata, P.; Husbands, D. R.; Jumbam, B.; Kaishian, P.; Moffitt, A.; Aime, M. C. (IMA Fungus, 2024)
Fungi are arguably the most diverse eukaryotic kingdom of organisms in terms of number of estimated species, trophic and life history strategies, and their functions in ecosystems. However, our knowledge of fungi is limited due to a distributional bias; the vast majority of available data on fungi have been compiled from non-tropical regions. Far less is known about fungi from tropical regions, with the bulk of these data being temporally limited surveys for fungal species diversity. Long-term studies (LTS), or repeated sampling from the same region over extended periods, are necessary to fully capture the extent of species diversity in a region, but LTS of fungi from tropical regions are almost non-existent. In this paper, we discuss the contributions of LTS of fungi in tropical regions to alpha diversity, ecological and functional diversity, biogeography, hypothesis testing, and conservation—with an emphasis on an ongoing tropical LTS in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. We show how these contributions refine our understanding of Fungi. We also show that public data repositories such as NCBI, IUCN, and iNaturalist contain less information on tropical fungi compared to non-tropical fungi, and that these discrepancies are more pronounced in fungi than in plants and animals.

Structure Documentation, Rehabilitation of the Adirondack Railroad Culvert (C220090) over Purgatory Creek, Town of Forestport, Oneida County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2024)

Patterns and predictors of lichen rarity in a biodiversity hotspot - Vagle, G. L.; Lendemer, J. C.; Manzitto-Tripp, E. A.; McCain, C. M. (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2024)
Understanding the spatial distributions of rarity and diversity is crucial for both targeted conservation efforts and elucidating the mechanisms that underpin species richness patterns. Existing studies suggest local communities with greater species richness also hold higher numbers of low abundance species. Rarity hotspots at the global scale tend to be spatially divergent from species richness hotspots and differ among many taxonomic groups, but much less work has been done to understand rarity patterns at the regional scale. Here, we used a large-scale dataset of comprehensive lichen diversity from a global biodiversity hotspot in eastern North America to explore the relationships of rarity, species richness, and elevation, while also examining the key plot characteristics that support increased rarity within the system. We found a mid-elevation slump in lichen rarity, with increased rarity at low and high elevations, contrasting with the mid-elevation hump in species richness for lichens in the same system. Additionally, important plot-level predictors of rarity changed with elevation. Rocky, open habitats hosted increased levels of rarity at low elevations, and the highest, coldest plots at the high elevations also hosted increased levels of rarity. Our results illustrate a contrast between elevational patterns and important plot characteristics for lichen rarity and species richness, suggesting a need for separate, complementary conservation efforts to protect both areas with high species richness and areas with high numbers of rare species.

Discovery of new genomic configuration of mating-type loci in the largest lineage of lichen-forming-fungi - White, K. H.; Keepers, K.; Kane, N.; Lendemer, J. C. (Genome Biology and Evolution, 2024)
The genetic architecture of mating-type loci in lichen-forming fungi has been characterized in very few taxa. Despite the limited data, and in contrast to all other major fungal lineages, arrangements that have both mating-type alleles in a single haploid genome have been hypothesized to be absent from the largest lineage of lichen-forming fungi, the Lecanoromycetes. We report the discovery of both mating-type alleles from the haploid genomes of three species within this group. Our results demonstrate that Lecanoromycetes are not an outlier among Ascomycetes.
Keywords: breeding system; genomics; metagenomics; Reproduction; sex determination

Red Listing lichenized fungi: best practices and future prospectsAbstract - Yahr, R.; Allen, J. L.; Atienza, V.; Burgartz, F.; Chrismas, N.; Dal Forno, M.; Degtjarenko, P.; Ohmura, Y.; Pérez-Ortega, S.; Randlane, T.; Reese Næsborg, R.; Simijaca-Salcedo, D.; et al. (The Lichenologist, 2024)
According to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines, all species must be assessed against all criteria during the Red Listing process. For organismal groups that are diverse and understudied, assessors face considerable challenges in assembling evidence due to difficulty in applying definitions of key terms used in the guidelines. Challenges also arise because of uncertainty in population sizes (Criteria A, C, D) and distributions (Criteria A2/3/4c, B). Lichens, which are often small, difficult to identify, or overlooked during biodiversity inventories, are one such group for which specific difficulties arise in applying Red List criteria. Here, we offer approaches and examples that address challenges in completing Red List assessments for lichens in a rapidly changing arena of data availability and analysis strategies. While assessors still contend with far from perfect information about individual species, we propose practical solutions for completing robust assessments given the currently available knowledge of individual lichen life-histories.
Keywords: conservation assessment; extinction risk; generation time; IUCN; lifespan; mature individuals; red list; uncertain distribution

A CURE in traits and species distributions: Reproductive modes, range sizes, and natural history collections. - Allen, J.; Sharrett, S.; Denzer, E.; Lendemer, J. C. (QUBES Educational Resources, 2023)

Bedrock Topography of Genesee County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Alrubay, A. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Bedrock Topography of Seneca County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Bedrock Topography of Wayne County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Drift Thickness of Genesee County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Alrubay, A. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Drift Thickness of Seneca County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map and Chart, 2023)

Drift Thickness of Wayne County, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Surficial Geology of the Port Leyden 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Lewis and Oneida County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Forgeng, H. M. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Age and origin of the Cortlandt intrusive complex, New York State: A detailed look at the Stony Point and Rosetown plutons - Bailey, D.G.; M. V. Lupulescu; Chiarenzelli, J.R.; Conrey, R.M.; Wuebber, J.W.; Anders, M.H. (Results in Geochemistry, 2023)
The Cortlandt Complex is a classic alkaline intrusive complex exposed along the Hudson River in southeastern New York. Early work by James Dana in the 1880s set the stage for over 100 additional studies over the next century. Studies in the past few decades have focused on constraining the genetic relationships between phases of the intrusive complex and the timing of emplacement relative to peak metamorphism and deformation during the Taconic orogeny. LA-MC-ICP-MS U/Pb zircon emplacement ages were obtained on five samples from the Cortlandt Complex. The five samples yielded dates ranging from 443 to 454 Ma, with an overall weighted mean emplacement age of 447.1 +/- 4.5 Ma. Three of the five samples contained inherited zircons, nearly all of Mesoproterozoic age. A sample of the adjacent Annsville Phyllite contained a diverse population of detrital zircons. The most common ages are between 1.25 and 1.85 Ga, although zircons of Neoarchean age are also present. The westernmost and relatively small Rosetown and Stony Point plutons are lithologically and compositionally diverse. Major and trace element trends indicate a complex petrogenesis, which is supported by variable initial isotope ratios. The geochemical data indicate that the mafic magmas were derived primarily from an asthenospheric mantle source, while the inherited zircons and more radiogenic isotope ratios of the silicic units imply a significant crustal component was involved in their formation. The timing and composition of intrusions in the Cortlandt Complex indicate that they are not the result of subduction related to the Taconic Orogeny. We suggest that the mafic units are the result of post-collisional, slab-failure induced asthenospheric upwelling, while the silicic units are primarily partial melts of Grenville-age, garnet amphibolites in the lower crust.
Keywords: Cortlandt Complex; geochronology; Petrogenesis; Radiogenic isotopes; Taconic Orogeny; Whole-rock geochemistry

Marine strata of the middle to upper Hamilton Group (Middle Devonian, lower Givetian), eastern outcrop belt in New York State - Bartholomew, A.; C. A. Ver Straeten (Devonian of New York,, 2023)
Marine strata of the Middle Devonian Hamilton Group in eastern New York State consist of a thick succession of synorogenic basinal to shoreface sediments. Initial basinal dark to black shales grade upward through increasingly coarse, sand-dominated facies. Beginning in Marcellus (early Givetian-age) strata in the Hudson Valley, these marine facies grade upward and laterally into terrestrial strata. This major transition occurs diachronously with higher strata undergoing transition to terrestrial facies progressively further westward. Time-rock/allostratigraphic relationships in these rocks have long remained poorly understood. This chapter examines older and recent observations and presents new interpretations and hypotheses on the correlation of these strata. The purposes of this work are to: 1) better constrain the position of the marine to terrestrial transition in upper the Marcellus subgroup strata; 2) better constrain the contact “interval” of the marine Mount Marion-Panther Mountain formations; 3) present current knowledge and hypotheses about the Panther Mountain Formation; 4) discuss the presence of two intervals of unique fauna, each consisting of an epibole of the brachiopod Schizophoria King, 1850 in southern Albany County and northeastern Greene County together with correlation of these intervals southward into Ulster County; 5) discuss basal strata of the upper Hamilton Cooperstown Formation through Schoharie to Greene counties; and finally, 6) present an overview of development of the Hamilton Group between Kingston, Ulster County and Port Jervis, Orange County, where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania meet. Methods utilized include reviews of older reports, new findings, sequence stratigraphy, correlation of distinct marker units, some faunal assessment (e.g., Schizophoria fauna intervals and other faunal associations, including a coral-rich bed), and some lithologic indicators of relative depths (e.g., thin, decimeter-scale conglomerates). The synthesis and resulting interpretations presented in this chapter are more tentative than in some chapters; however, the authors attempt herein to lay the groundwork for future research.

Surficial Geology of Columbia County, New York - Cadwell, D. H. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Surficial Geology of Dutchess County, New York - Cadwell, D. H. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey of PIN 1236.29.101, New York State Route 29 at Rowland Street Intersection Safety Enhancements, Town of Milton, Saratoga County, New York - Cardinal, J.S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey of PIN 2807.02.101, Culvert Repair/Replace Project 20, New York State Route 26 Culverts C260194 and C260195, Town of Lee, Oneida County, New York - Dobbin, S.M. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey of PIN 2LC1.31.101, Route 46 over Unnamed Creek (C270037), Town of Ava, Oneida County, New York - Dubuque, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 7807.13.321, New York State Route 458 Culvert Replacement, Town of Hopkinton, St. Lawrence County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Bedrock Topography of Orleans County, New York - Grasing, S.P.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Drift Thickness of Orleans County, New York - Grasing, S.P.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2023)

Effects of charring on squash (Cucurbita L) seed morphology and compression strength: Implications for paleoethnobotany - J. P. Hart (Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2023)
The primary crops of Indigenous agricultural systems in North America in the centuries prior to and following European colonization were maize (Zea mays ssp. mays), bean (Phaseolus spp.), and squash (Cucurbita spp.). Of these, charred maize is the best represented in macrobotanical assemblages from open-air sites in northeastern North America; macrobotanical assemblages in this region consist primarily of charred plant remains. Charred bean seeds generally occur in much lower quantities and charred squash seeds in lower quantities than charred bean seeds. Heating taphonomy experiments have been performed on maize kernels and bean seeds to determine the most likely temperature range for preservation in the archaeological record. Such studies have been lacking for squash seeds. A series of heating experiments with seeds harvested from fruits of three squash species indicate that unlike maize kernels and bean seeds, charring does not enhance squash seed preservation. The recovery of one or a few charred squash seeds from a site likely represents a high degree of use.
Keywords: Carbonization; Charring; Experimental archaeology; Squash seeds; Taphonomy

Human and dog Bayesian dietary mixing models using bone collagen stable isotope ratios from ancestral Iroquoian sites in southern Ontario - J. P. Hart (Scientific Reports, 2023)
Under the archaeological canine surrogacy approach (CSA) it is assumed that because dogs were reliant on humans for food, they had similar diets to the people with whom they lived. As a result, the stable isotope ratios of their tissues (bone collagen and apatite, tooth enamel and dentine collagen) will be close to those of the humans with whom they cohabited. Therefore, in the absence of human tissue, dog tissue isotopes can be used to help reconstruct past human diets. Here δ13C and δ15N ratios on previously published dog and human bone collagen from fourteenth-seventeenth century AD ancestral Iroquoian village archaeological sites and ossuaries in southern Ontario are used with MixSIAR, a Bayesian dietary mixing model, to determine if the dog stable isotope ratios are good proxies for human isotope ratios in dietary modeling for this context. The modeling results indicate that human dietary protein came primarily from maize and high trophic level fish and dogs from maize, terrestrial animals, low trophic level fish, and human feces. While isotopes from dog tissues can be used as general analogs for human tissue isotopes under CSA, greater insights into dog diets can be achieved with Bayesian dietary mixing models.

Resetting Archaeological Interpretations of Precontact Indigenous Agriculture: Maize Isotopic Evidence from Three Ancestral Mohawk Iroquoian Villages - J. P. Hart; S. Winchell-Sweeney (American Antiquity, 2023)
Archaeologists working in eastern North America typically refer to precontact and early postcontact Native American maize-based agriculture as shifting or swidden. Based on a comparison with European agriculture, it is generally posited that the lack of plows, draft animals, and animal manure fertilization resulted in the rapid depletion of soil nitrogen. This required Indigenous farmers to move their fields frequently. In Northern Iroquoia, depletion of soil fertility is frequently cited as one reason why villages were moved to new locations every 20 to 40 years. Recent analysis of δ15N ratios of maize macrobotanical remains from Northern Iroquoia, however, suggests that Iroquoian farmers were able to maintain soil nitrogen in their maize fields. An expanded analysis of maize kernel δ15N ratios from three ancestral Mohawk villages indicates that farmers from those villages maintained soil nitrogen throughout the occupational spans of their villages. It further suggests that precontact Iroquoian agronomy was consistent with contemporary conservation agriculture practices.

Social Network Analysis of Iroquoian Sites in the St. Lawrence River Valley: AD 1400–1600 - J. P. Hart; Birch, J.; Gates-St-Pierre, C. (Journal of Historical Network Research, 2023)
Relatively little is known from the sixteenth- and seventeenth-cen- tury AD ethnohistorical record about Iroquoian societies in the St Lawrence River Valley compared to the Huron-Wendat in southern Ontario and Haudenosaunee in New York. This is because Iroquoian villagers dispersed from the valley over the course of the sixteenth century. Here we use formal social network analysis to build on understandings of St. Lawrence Iroquoians’ socio-political interactions within and outside of the valley from AD 1400 to 1600. This analysis is based on pottery vessel decorations as signals of female membership in socio-political net- works. Results indicate valley-long coalitional networks that became looser at the end of the sixteenth century as St. Lawrence Iroquoians dispersed from the valley.

Updating the classic New York Lamoka Lake and Scaccia sites: refined chronologies through AMS dating and Bayesian modeling - J. P. Hart; Birch, J.; Manning, S. W; Lorentzen, B. (Radiocarbon, 2023)
The Lamoka Lake and Scaccia sites in present-day New York have played important roles in the development of archaeology in New York, and in the case of Lamoka Lake, in eastern North America. Lamoka Lake is the type site for the “Archaic” period in eastern North American culture history and the “Late Archaic” “Lamoka phase” in New York culture history. The Scaccia site is the largest “Early Woodland” “Meadowood phase” site in New York and has the earliest evidence for pottery and agriculture crop use in the state. Lamoka Lake has been dated to 2500 BC based on a series of solid carbon and gas-proportional counting radiometric dates on bulk wood charcoal obtained in the 1950s and 1960s. Scaccia has been dated to 870 BC based on a single uncalibrated radiometric date obtained on bulk charcoal in the early 1970s. As a result, the ages of these important sites need to be refined. New AMS dates and Bayesian analyses presented here place Lamoka Lake at 2962–2902 BC (68.3% highest posterior density [hpd])) and Scaccia at 1049–838 BC (68.3% hpd).
Keywords: AMS dating; Bayesian modeling; New York

Factors associated with extirpation of the last Northern Sunfish (Lepomis peltastes Cope, 1870) population in western New York State, USA - Haynes, J. M.; Sanderson-Kilchenstein, D.; Andres, J. A.; Carlson, D. M.; J. J Wright; B. R. Weatherwax; Rinchard, J. (Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 2023)
The Northern Sunfish (Lepomis peltastes Cope, 1870) is threatened in New York state, USA, but this was not the case before 1940 when the NY Biological Survey documented the species at scattered, specialized habitats in six watersheds in the central and western parts of the state. After 1940 the historic populations could not be detected, but a new population was discovered in 1974 in lower Tonawanda Creek and the nearby Erie Canal. Northern Sunfish, and a few of their hybrids with other Lepomis species, were caught at these locations during irregular sampling through 2009, but no Northern Sunfish were caught after 2009. The objectives of our study were to: (1) Determine the extent of Northern Sunfish hybridization with other Lepomis species, and (2) Evaluate how well identifications of Lepomis species and their hybrids agreed among field keys, morphometric measurements and meristic counts, and genetic methods. In 2013, we collected Northern Sunfish (descended from fish captured in lower Tonawanda Creek from 2006-2009) from NY State Department of Environmental Conservation rearing ponds, plus wild Green Sunfish (L. cyanellus Rafinesque, 1819), Pumpkinseed (L. gibbosus Linnaeus, 1758), Bluegill (L. macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819), and suspected Lepomis hybrids from lower Tonawanda Creek. Ultimately, 91 fish were identified using field keys, morphometric-meristic analysis, and mtDNA and nuclear DNA analysis. Assuming genetic analysis provided accurate identification, we found 7 Bluegill × Northern Sunfish, 8 Bluegill × Pumpkinseed, 13 Bluegill × Green Sunfish, and 3 Green Sunfish × Pumpkinseed hybrids in our sample (female parent listed second in these crosses). Keyed and morphometric-meristic identifications did not differ in accuracy and averaged 81% of genetic identification accuracy. After Northern Sunfish stocking (not in our study area) and sampling from 2008 to 2018 in several watersheds with appropriate habitat and no recaptures after 2014, we conclude that the Northern Sunfish is extirpated in western New York state.

Archaeology as Service: Introduction - Herr, S.A.; van der Linde, S.; C. B. Rieth (Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2023)
This article provides an introduction to the theme issue “Archaeology of Service.” We explore how performing service in archaeology articulates with the concepts and practices of community-based archaeology, collaborative archaeology, and the Archaeologies of the Heart projects and their larger purposes of approaching work through a lens of social and environmental justice. We introduce seven articles that describe working in communities around the world, including the Bininj of the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation in the Northwest Territory of Australia; the Bunun of the Lakulaku River Basin in Taiwan; the Passamaquoddy Nation in Maine (USA); people from 21 First Nations in the province of Ontario, Canada; the diverse communities of Oklahoma (USA); the African American community in Bolivar, Texas (USA); and the people of San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. The articles are tied together by the common theme of collaborative work that is built through relationships of trust and is conducted in ways that strive to change the institutional and educational structures in which archaeology is practiced.

Artifact NY: Industrial Sewing Machine - A Hopkins-Benton (New York History, 2023)

Molecular and phenotypic study put eastern North American Cetrelia in a global context of biogeography and phylogeny - Howland, J. W.; Lendemer, J. C. (The Bryologist, 2023)

Genetic evidence for widespread population size expansion in North American boreal birds prior to the Last Glacial Maximum - Kimmitt, A. A.; Pegan, T. M.; Jones, A. W.; Wacker, K. S.; Brennan, C. L.; Hudon, Jocelyn; J. J. Kirchman; Ruegg, K.; Benz, B. W.; Herman, R.; Winger, B. M. (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2023)
Pleistocene climate cycles are well documented to have shaped contemporary species distributions and genetic diversity. Northward range expansions in response to deglaciation following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; approximately 21 000 years ago) are surmised to have led to population size expansions in terrestrial taxa and changes in seasonal migratory behaviour. Recent findings, however, suggest that some northern temperate populations may have been more stable than expected through the LGM. We modelled the demographic history of 19 co-distributed boreal-breeding North American bird species from full mitochondrial gene sets and species-specific molecular rates. We used these demographic reconstructions to test how species with different migratory strategies were affected by glacial cycles. Our results suggest that effective population sizes increased in response to Pleistocene deglaciation earlier than the LGM, whereas genetic diversity was maintained throughout the LGM despite shifts in geographical range. We conclude that glacial cycles prior to the LGM have most strongly shaped contemporary genetic diversity in these species. We did not find a relationship between historic population dynamics and migratory strategy, contributing to growing evidence that major switches in migratory strategy during the LGM are unnecessary to explain contemporary migratory patterns.

Surficial Geology of the Esperance 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Montgomery, Schenectady and Schoharie Counties, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J.; Forgeng, H. M. (Map & Chart, 2023)

The Neo-American Church - Lander, D. R. (Virginia Commonwealth University’s World Religions & Spirituality Project, 2023)

Psychedelic Refugee: The League for Spiritual Discovery, the 1960s Cultural Revolution, and 23 Years on the Run by Rosemary Woodruff Leary (review) - Lander, D. R. (New York History, 2023)

Discussion: The Terreneuvian MacCodrum Brook section, Mira terrane, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada: age constraints from ash layers, organic-walled microfossils, and trace fossils - E. Landing; G. Geyer (Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2023)
Exhaustive similarities in terminal Ediacaran–Ordovician cover sequences between tectonic inliers in the Appalachian–Caledonian (A–C) orogen define the Avalonian terrane from coastal northeast North America through southern Britain to Belgium. However, Barr et al. effectively block inclusion of the Mira belt (Mb) in Avalonia by masking a long-documented trans-Avalonian succession under locally defined lithostratigraphic names that prove to be confusing homonyms of themselves. Earlier revisions of Mira belt stratigraphy allow assignment of the Mira belt to a precise location in the Avalonian strike-slip regime—on the marginal–inner platform transition just as the northern Antigonish Highlands and southeast Burin Peninsula. The Mira belt is a tectonic inlier not a “terrane” in the A–C orogen.

Proposed Early Cambrian cephalopods are chimaeras, the oldest known cephalopods are 30 m.y. younger - E. Landing; Kroger, B.; Westrop, S. R.; Geyer, G. (Communications Biology, 2023)

U-Pb zircon dates from North American and British Avalonia bracket the Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary interval, with evaluation of the Miaolingian Series as a global unit - E. Landing; Schmitz, M. D.; Westrop, S. R.; Geyer, G. (Geological Magazine, 2023)
High-precision U-Pb zircon ages on SE Newfoundland tuffs now bracket the Avalonian Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary. Upper Lower Cambrian Brigus Formation tuffs yield depositional ages of 507.91 ± 0.07 Ma (Callavia broeggeri Zone) and 507.67 ± 0.08 Ma and 507.21 ± 0.13 Ma (Morocconus-Condylopyge eli Assemblage interval). Lower Middle Cambrian Chamberlain’s Brook Formation tuffs have depositional ages of 506.34 ± 0.21 Ma (Kiskinella cristata Zone) and 506.25 ± 0.07 Ma (Eccaparadoxides bennetti Zone). The composite unconformity separating the Brigus and Chamberlain’s Brook formations is constrained between these ages. An Avalonian Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary between 507.2 ± 0.1 and 506.3 ± 0.2 Ma is consistent with maximum depositional age constraints from southwest Laurentia, which indicate an age for the base of the Miaolingian Series, as locally interpreted, of ≤ 506.6 ± 0.3 Ma. The Miaolingian Series’ base is interpreted as correlative within ≤ 0.3 ± 0.3 Ma between Cambrian palaeocontinents, although its exact synchrony is questionable due to taxonomic problems with a possible Oryctocephalus indicus-plexus, invariable dysoxic lithofacies control of O. indicus and diachronous occurrence of O. indicus in temporally distinct δ13C chemozones in South China and SW Laurentia. The lowest occurrence of O. indicus assemblages is linked to onlap (epeirogenic or eustatic) of dysoxic facies. A united Avalonia is shown by late Early Cambrian volcanics in SW New Brunswick; Cape Breton Island; SE Newfoundland; and the Wrekin area, England. The new U-Pb ages revise Avalonian geological evolution as they show rapid epeirogenic changes through depositional sequences 4a–6.
Keywords: Lower Cambrian; Miaolingian; Middle Cambrian; Newfoundland; U-Pb dates

Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw , and: Commeraw's Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner by A. Brandt Zipp (review) - J. A. Lemak (New York History, 2023)

Studies in Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi – No. 23: Notes on Appalachian taxa including newly reported disjunctions and multiple species new to North America - Lendemer, J. C. (Opuscula Philolichenum, 2023)
Arthonia ligniariella is reported for the first time from eastern North America based on a collection growing on lignum in North Carolina, U.S.A. Biatora appalachensis, an Appalachian endemic, is shown to be widespread throughout the Appalachian Mountains, primarily at high elevations. The only report of Fellhanera parvula from North America (Tennessee, U.S.A.) is considered to be F. bouteillei. Fellhanera subtilis, previously reported in North America from the Pacific Northwest, is reported for the first time from eastern North America (southern Appalachian Mountains). Gyalideopsis mexicana, previously reported in North America from the Yukon, Canada and New Mexico, U.S.A. is newly reported from eastern North America (southern Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina, U.S.A.). Lepra ouahensis, a sorediate species with lichexanthone and stictic acid, is reported from disjunct areas of the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Southeastern Coastal Plain. Its distribution is compared to the lichexanthone producing chemotypes of L. trachythallina and Varicellaria velata. Rockefellera crossophylla, a rare species considered extinct in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. is reported to be extant in that state. Psoronactis dilleniana is newly reported from North America from high elevations of the central and southern Appalachian Mountains (North Carolina and Virginia U.S.A.). Xenonectriella streimannii is newly reported for North America based on a collection found growing on Anaptychia palmulata in Georgia, U.S.A.
Keywords: Biodiversity hotspot; biodiversity inventory; Biogeography; floristics; natural history collections

Addendum Architectural Survey of PIN 5045.27.121, NY Route 104 and NY Route 93 Intersection Improvement Project, Towns of Cambria and Lockport, Niagara County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Architectural Survey of PIN 1810.91.121, SFY 2022 Culvert Program, New York State Route 22 Culvert C120069, Town of Essex, Essex County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Architectural Survey of PIN 5268.55.101, New York State Route 240: Boston Colden Road to Ellicott Road, Towns of Aurora and Colden, Erie County, New York - LoRusso, M.S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Architectural Survey of PIN 5512.52.101, New York State Route 33, Kensington Expressway, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Architectural Survey of PIN 8814.88.121, NY Route 9D Breakneck Tunnel Lighting System Replacement, BIN 1006330, Town of Philipstown, Putnam County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

The Behavior of Information: A Reconsideration of Social Norms - Loughmiller-Cardinal, J. A.; J. S. Cardinal (Societies, 2023)
Do social norms really matter, or are they just behavioral idiosyncrasies that become associated with a group? Social norms are generally considered as a collection of formal or informal rules, but where do these rules come from, and why do we follow them? The definition for social norm varies by field of study, and how norms are established and maintained remains substantially open to questions across the behavioral sciences. In reviewing the literature on social norms across multiple disciplines, we found that the common thread appears to be information. Here, we show that norms are not merely rules or strategies, but part of a more rudimentary social process for capturing and retaining information within a social network. We have found that the emergence of norms can be better explained as an efficient system of communicating, filtering, and preserving experiential information. By reconsidering social norms and institutions in terms of information, we show that they are not merely conventions that facilitate the coordination of social behavior. They are, instead, the objective of that social coordination and, potentially, of the evolutionary adaptation of sociality itself.
Keywords: cultural evolution; information; normative belief; social cognition; social institutions; social norms

Buried Beneath the City: An Archaeological History of New York by Nan A. Rothschild et al. (review) - Michael T. Lucas (New York History, 2023)

Enslavement and Autonomy in Late Eighteenth-Century Albany, New York - Michael T. Lucas; Kirk, Matthew (Historical Archaeology, 2023)
In 1998, Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc., excavated the remains of the John Bogart House basement in downtown Albany, New York. Archaeologists found a small artifact-filled barrel buried below the floor adjacent to an interior dividing wall. Most striking were the number of sharp and modified objects within this barrel and elsewhere under the basement floor that were likely hidden or lost by enslaved African Americans who occupied the space during the late 18th century. Albany underwent a dramatic social and political transformation at the end of the 18th century, causing anxiety and tension with the city. Within this uncertain post-Revolutionary climate, Albany’s African American community expressed a measure of public autonomy through the Pinkster festival. At the same time, African Americans at the Bogart House were carefully curating multivalent objects to express personal autonomy and group identity in the face of often violent repression.

A Place for African American Agricultural Heritage: The Lives and Landscapes of the Powell Family of Watervliet - Michael T. Lucas (The Bulletin and Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association, 2023)

Xenocrystic zircon in Central New York State Kimberlites record Neoproterozoic disturbance of Grenville Basement rocks - M. V. Lupulescu; J. R. Chiarenzelli; C. M. Fisher; J.M. Hanchar; Bailey, D. G. (Lithos, 2023)

Archaeological Survey of PIN 1810.91.121, SFY 2022 Culvert Program, New York State Route 22 Culvert C120069, Town of Essex, Essex County, New York - A. Lynch (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Archaeological Survey of PIN 1LC1.01.101 Large Culvert Resiliency, New York State Route 9N Culvert C170029, Town of Hague, Warren County, New York - A. Lynch (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

. Near the Marsh: CRSP Excavations at Three Sites in Montezuma, NY - D. E. Mazeau (New York Archaeological Council 2023 Newsletter., 2023)

Five new species of the genus Leucania Ochsenheimer in Central America (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) - T. L. McCabe; Adams, M. S. (Zootaxa, 2023)
Five new species of the noctuid genus Leucania in Central America are described: L. mopan Adams and McCabe, sp. nov., L. merga Adams and McCabe, sp. nov., L. championi Adams and McCabe, sp. nov., L. colorada McCabe and Adams, sp. nov., L. sororia McCabe and Adams, sp. nov. The internal genitalia are key to resolving the taxonomy in this genus; in particular, the morphology of the male everted endophallus (vesica) and the female bursa copulatrix jointly resolve taxonomic confusion among cryptic species near L. albifasciata, L. oaxacana and L. humidicola. We recognize the valvular pore plate and the "poma" (bubble-like structure at base of valvae) as generic synapomorphies for Leucania. Lappets (inflatable pouches on the outer aspect of the valvae) are newly described. Descriptions and color illustrations of the imagos, male valvae, everted endophalli, and the female bursae copulatrix are provided for all newly described species and selected congeners to aid identification. Additional nomenclatorial actions are: Leucania complicata Strecker, 1898 rest. stat.; Leucania februalis Hill, 1924 syn. nov., a junior synonym of L. humidicola; Leucania elephas Troubridge 2020 syn. nov., a junior synonym of L. humidicola.

Cultural Resources Screening Addendum for Archaeological Sensitivity, PIN 5512.52.101, New York State Route 33, Kensington Expressway, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York - D. E. Merwin (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Cambrian microfossils from the High Atlas, Morocco: Taxonomic, biostratigraphic, palaeobiogeographic, and depositional significance of the Brèche à Micmacca limestone beds - Mghazli, K.; Lazreq, N.; Geyer, G.; E. Landing; Boumehdi, M. A.; Youbi, N. (Journal of African Earth Sciences, 2023)
Diverse helcionelloid molluscs, probable polychaetes, and sclerites of other metazoan groups are described from the Brèche à Micmacca Member at section Le IX in the Lemdad syncline in the High Atlas, southern Morocco. The collections include more than 3,000 specimens and complement earlier described faunal assemblages from this interval. The new material includes 21 species of 13 genera, with 15 helcionelloid species (or forms), one supposed orthothecid hyolith, and 5 pseudopelagielliform species. They record a relatively limited amount of biotic change through the Morocconus notabilis and Ornamentaspis frequens trilobite biozones in the Souss Basin. Eotebenna cf. papilio Runnegar and Jell1976, is the first record of the genus in Africa and West Gondwana. Dorispira? lemdadensis n. sp., Yochelcionella longituba n. sp., and Yochelcionella gracilituba n. sp. are proposed. The Le XI associations are compared with those from other localities of the Brèche à Micmacca Member in terms of their biostratigraphic and palaeoecological implications. The assemblages include forms that are similar to those from coeval faunas from the Siberian Platform, North China, Australia, and Laurentia (SNAL) and assist in interregional and continental biostratigraphic correlation and the understanding of palaeogeographic connections. This study concludes that Lower–Middle Cambrian boundary interval trilobites and small shelly fossils comprise a West Gondwanan assemblage (i.e., Morocco, Iberia, Saxo-Thuringia) that differs from palaeogeographically distant coeval faunas from tropical SNAL regions.

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 7SUP.02.121, Jefferson County Bridge Bundle, Site 3: BIN 1010150 NY 12E over Kent’s Creek, Site 4: BIN 1010100 NY 12E over Perch River, Site 7: BIN 1000470 NY 3 over Stony Creek, Towns of Cape Vincent, Brownville, - Moragne, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Specimen collection is essential for modern science - Nachman, Michael W.; Beckman, Elizabeth J.; Bowie, Rauri CK; Cicero, Carla; Conroy, Chris J.; Dudley, Robert; Hayes, Tyrone B.; Koo, Michelle S.; Lacey, Eileen A.; Martin, Christopher H.; McGuire, Jimmy A.; Patton, James L.; et al. (PLOS Biology, 2023)
In a recent Perspective, Byrne [1] emphasized that natural history museums “are essential hubs for research and education” but that their mission should be reimagined to focus on nonlethal collecting. We endorse many of the practices advocated by Byrne, including the storage of tissues, recordings, photos, and other data; embracing new technologies such as massively parallel DNA sequencing, μCT scanning, and stable isotope analysis; and large-scale digitization of collections and associated metadata. Indeed, many of these practices are widely used by museums today. We also welcome the call to provide stable financial support to maintain and expand the infrastructure of existing collections. However, we do not support the call to use new technologies “to replace the need for whole animal bodies.” Byrne’s position overstates the potential of new technologies to replace specimen-based research and fails to acknowledge the importance of whole-organism–based research in building the foundations of modern biology and in continuing to promote new discoveries.

Responses of native freshwater mussels to remediation to remove polychlorinated biphenyl‐contaminated sediments in the upper Hudson River - Newton, T. J.; D. A. Mayer; Rogala, J. T.; Madden, S. S.; Gray, B. R. (Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2023)
The Hudson River, New York, was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from two manufacturing plants over a period of approximately 30 years, and PCBs are still present in sediment and biota today. The river provides habitat for a variety of plants and animals, including native freshwater mussels. A remediation programme, consisting of dredging followed by the placement of backfilled sediment and/or a subaqueous cap, was initiated in 2009 to remove PCB-contaminated sediments, and managers were concerned about how remediation could affect the mussels. Quantitative surveys were conducted across nine reaches (pools) to estimate species composition, density, population size, population structure, and ecosystem services of mussel assemblages, pre- and post-remediation. Surveys were stratified into remediated areas (targeted for dredging) and non-remediated areas (not targeted for dredging). Pre-remediation, the river contained a low diversity, and high, but variable, density of mussels that were strongly dominated by Elliptio complanata. The presence of few fresh dead mussels indicates low natural mortality. Frequent recruitment by many species, varied length classes, and high biomass also support robust assemblages that perform important ecosystem services, such as biofiltration. Remedial activity removed most of the mussels and the associated services that they perform: their density was reduced by 83% and their filtration capacity was reduced by 93%, relative to non-remediated areas. Areas that were remediated were almost devoid of adult mussels, but the presence of small mussels indicates that natural recolonization is occurring. However, it is unknown whether these assemblages will persist. As mussels are generally long lived and slow growing, natural recovery is anticipated to be slow, in the order of decades.

Terrorism in American Memory: Memorials, Museums, and Architecture in the Post-9/11 Era by Marita Sturken (review) - Noble, A. (New York History, 2023)

A Well Regulated Militia: Citizen, Soldier, and State (review) - Noble, A. (New York History, 2023)

Native New York (review) - Gwendolyn W Saul (New York History, 2023)

Description of the Pre-Settlement Larvae of Sphoeroides spengleri (Pisces: Tetraodontidae) - Schmidt, R. E.; J. J Wright; McMullin, E. R. (Southeastern Naturalist, 2023)
<text class="ArticleContentText"> We verified pre-settlement Sphoeroides spengleri (Bandtail Puffer) larvae by genetic sequencing and herein describe their morphology and pigmentation. The lead author collected the specimens on a North Carolina beach among stranded Sargassum, which may represent the first record of this species in the Sargassum community along the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Cleared and stained specimens exhibited a declivitous vertebral column that has been reported in few other members of the Tetraodontiformes. </text>

Architectural Survey of PIN 1810.91.121 Culvert C150116 Repair/Replacement, US Route 4, Town of Saratoga, Saratoga County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Architectural Survey of PIN 2807.02.101, Culvert Repair/Replace Project 20: CINs 260194 & 260195, New York State Route 26, Town of Lee, Oneida County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Historic American Engineering Record, Route 11 Bridge over the Oneida River - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey of PIN 5814.65.101, Windfall Road over Thorpe Hollow Creek (BIN 6600230), Town of Carrollton, Cattaraugus County, New York - D. Staley (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2023)

The Motorcycle Industry in New York State, Second Edition: A Concise Encyclopedia of Inventors, Builders, and Manufacturers - G. Stein; Utter, B. L. (Excelsior Editions, 2023)
The Motorcycle Industry in New York State is the first book to focus on the over 120-year history of motorcycle construction in the Empire State. Beginning with experimental motorized bicycles in the 1890s, New York's motorcycle industry experienced its golden years for innovation and production in the 1900s and 1910s. From that promising start, the state's motorcycle industry declined, when the public adopted automobiles for everyday transportation. However, since the late twentieth century, the rise of custom, one-of-a-kind motorcycles has brought a new focus toward the industry. Also, a new effort to reach mass production comes in the form of e-motorcycles and e-bicycles that are being designed in New York. The first edition, published in 2001, was the product of nine years of research by New York State Museum (NYSM) curator Geoffrey N. Stein. This second edition has been revised and updated by NYSM Senior Historian and Curator Brad L. Utter. For anyone who loves motorcycles or for those enthusiasts/collectors that wish to know more about these unique makers and the bikes that they created, The Motorcycle Industry in New York State is the ideal companion.

Rooting Portions of a Young Pseudosporochnalean from the Catskill Delta Complex of New York - Stein, W.E.; Berry, C. M.; L. VanAller Hernick; Mannolini, F. (International Journal of Plant Sciences, 2023)
Premise of research. Pseudosporochnales (Cladoxylopsida) were conspicuous elements of the Earth’s earliest forests. Recent evidence has done much to clarify basic aspects of the pseudosporochnalean architecture, but important questions remain about the developmental processes responsible for growth from juvenile individuals to trees of sometimes considerable size. Methodology. Presented here is combined compression/permineralization evidence of a young member of the group from a late Devonian (early Frasnian) locality also containing Eospermatopteris (Wattieza), currently the largest reconstructed pseudosporochnalean tree. Standard pyrite preparations were made and analyzed with reflected light. Pivotal results. The anatomically preserved portion of the trunk with an expanded base lacking a central vascular column shows abundant evidence of appendages with apparent rooting function supplied by traces comprised of primary and often secondary xylem. Traces arise within parenchyma near the trunk center and follow lax courses with multiple divisions outward and downward to the surface, finally enveloping the plant base for some distance. In the upper portion of the specimen, likely near the transition between the base bearing rooting appendages and the aerial shoot, the traces form a vascular plexus toward the periphery of the stem, with the bulk of vascular tissues comprising secondary xylem. Similar but differently oriented vascularization also occurs near the base. Conclusions. Here we hypothesize a unique form of “bipolar” development in this specimen, and potentially all pseudosporochnaleans, by means of a trunk base bearing an appendicular system of positively geotropic rooting appendages. In addition, we hypothesize that diffuse meristematic activity of the base plus the vascular plexus may have a previously unrecognized role in the development of pseudosporochnaleans from the small specimen observed here to large body size. We also suggest that this tissue offers an explanation for the enigmatic genus Xenocladia known from tissue fragments of large size found in coeval marine sediments of New York State. Given current incomplete understanding of development within the Pseudosprochnales, considering the rooting system as sui generis confers the advantage of adequate description of this organ, without necessarily specifying correspondence or homology with other groups.

Dedication: To Dr. Lawrence (Larry) V. Rickard - C. A. Ver Straeten (Devonian of New York, Volume 1: Introduction and Přídolí to lower Givetian (Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian) stages, 2023)

Devonian of New York, Volume 1: Introduction and Přídolí to lower Givetian (Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian) stages - C. A. Ver Straeten; Over, D. J.; Woodrow, D. (Bulletins of American Paleontology, 2023)
The Devonian strata in New York State were the standard section for North America for over 100 years, and remain a significant reference for regional to global correlation and research. Since publication of L. V. Rickard’s (1975) New York Devonian correlation chart, various higher-resolution stratigraphic analyses have been employed, sometimes at bed-by-bed scale. These include sequence-, bio-, event-, chemo-, and other -stratigraphic approaches, along with increasingly finer-resolution geochronologic dating of airfall volcanic tephras. Results have led to many new interpretations and insights of the succession. The purpose of this three-volume work is to produce a new Devonian stratigraphic synthesis for New York State, and to record, often in detail, current knowledge of the succession, and various other geologic and paleontologic aspects of it for current and future research and discussion. The purpose of this chapter is to provide overviews of the Devonian Period, the Devonian of North America (“Laurentia”), the Devonian of eastern Laurentia, and the Devonian of New York State. Furthermore, this review extends beyond the sedimentary rock and paleobiological record, and beyond the United States, Canada, and northern Mexico, to also summarize aspects of Devonian orogenesis, metasedimentary foreland basin fill, silicic igneous activity, complexities of terranes of Mexico and Central America, and Appalachian faunas that extended into South America. The Devonian Period as a whole encompasses 60 million years of time, approximately 419 to 359 million years ago. During that time, shallow seas covered large continental areas; climate was warmer globally than our current climate, during the late stage of a global greenhouse climate. By the end of the Devonian, that warm climate was descending into a time of global icehouse conditions, with widespread glaciation. The positions of modern continental masses were much different. During the Devonian Period, Life first fully colonized the land, led by primitive spore-bearing plants, small arthropods, and apparently by the Middle Devonian, the first tetrapod (“four-legged”) animals, which evolved from bony fishes. Decimeter-tall plants at the beginning of the period had evolved to tree-size forms by the Middle Devonian, approximately 30 million years later, and Earth’s first forest ecosystems arose. Devonian strata are widespread around the ancient continent “Laurentia,” which approximately corresponds to modern North America). At that time, Laurentia straddled the equator, with New York State and the Appalachian region somewhat north of 30° south latitude. Shallow epicontinental seas covered large but varying amounts of the continent over the period. Mountain belts formed on the eastern, northern, and western margins of Laurentia, due to plate tectonic collisions with smaller continental masses, exotic terranes, and volcanic island arcs. Through the Early to Middle Devonian, seas in western and eastern Laurentia were separated by a “transcontinental arch,” and generally had distinctly different marine faunas. In the latest Middle Devonian, sea level transgressed over the land barrier of the Laurentian Transcontinental Arch and the Canadian Shield, and those marine faunas mixed, leading to a more global cosmopolitan fauna in the Late Devonian. Anomalously, however, Early and Middle Devonian Laurentian shallow marine faunas are found in Devonian rocks in Central and South America, which were part of the southern Gondwana continent, generally thought to be separated from Laurentia by oceanic water depths at that time. During the Devonian, eastern Laurentia was an active tectonic margin, related to continent-continent collisions with various terranes/smaller continental masses. The Caledonian, Acadian, and Neoacadian orogenies resulted in compressional and some transpressional tectonics, and the uplift of an extensive mountain belt from east Greenland to Alabama and Georgia. Crustal loading of the orogen in eastern Laurentia led to subsidence and formation of a retroarc Acadian-Neoacadian Foreland Basin, which was initially filled with marine waters, followed by gradual overfilling to above sea level by massive volumes of synorogenic sediments from the east. The resulting lands were the site of some of the earliest forests on Earth, preserved at several sites in New York State, and forest ecosystems. Large-scale deformation, seismic activity, and metamorphism in the mountain belt were accompanied by igneous processes, including explosive eruption of felsic volcanic ash and other material, collectively termed “tephra,” also sometimes termed ash or tuff layers, or if diagenetically altered, sometimes termed bentonite, K-bentonite, metabentonite, or tonstein layers. These explosive Devonian eruptions sent volcanic tephra high into the atmosphere, and easterly winds spread airfall volcanic “tephra layers” across the eastern United States. Meanwhile, rock decay in the mountains led to the erosion, transport, and deposition of massive volumes of clays, silt, sand, and gravel into the Acadian-Neoacadian Foreland Basin, and beyond. Devonian rocks in New York are found at or just below the surface across approximately 40% of the state (~50,500 km²/19,500 mi²). The strata are generally undeformed and gently dipping, and while often covered by soil, glacial sediments, and vegetative cover, are relatively widely found in natural and man-made exposures. Three relatively thin intervals of carbonates are accompanied by eastward thickening wedges of synorogenic mudrocks, sandstones, and minor conglomerates. The history of geological and paleontological observation and study in New York began in the late 18th century. The first professional geologists appeared in the early 19th century. Since the advent of the first geological survey of New York State in 1836, the Devonian Period (nearly termed the “Erian Period” for New York’s Devonian-age rocks) has been the focus of a great volume of research which continues today. The Devonian succession in New York includes strata from all seven stages of the period, with erosional gaps of small to major significance. In addition to a range of marine facies, nearly one quarter of the entire area of Devonian bedrock in the state was deposited in terrestrial settings, with massive volumes of siliciclastic sediments shed off of Acadian-Neoacadian highlands to the east, that also feature the fossils of Earth’s oldest known forest ecosystems. The stratigraphic philosophy in New York has long evolved toward a hybrid classification, wherein groups, formations, and bed-level units are largely time-rock/allostratigraphic to occasionally chronostratigraphic, with lithostratigraphy often ascribed to member-level divisions (e.g., Pragian to Givetian strata, middle Lower to upper Middle Devonian). However, in some intervals, such as Frasnian strata (lower Upper Devonian), group-level units are time-rock units, and formation-level units within groups are largely lithostratigraphic. Forty-eight years of research since Rickard’s (1975) New York Devonian correlation chart permits development of a new, more refined chart (forthcoming), and also permits a new synthesis of Devonian rocks and fossils in New York, presented in this work of twelve chapters, with additional digital appendices.

Devonian of New York, Volume 2: Lower to upper Givetian (Middle Devonian) stage - C. A. Ver Straeten; Over, D. J.; Woodrow, D. (Bulletins of American Paleontology, 2023)

Devonian of New York, Volume 3: Frasnian to Famennian (Upper Devonian) stages and the Devonian terrestrial system in New York - C. A. Ver Straeten; Over, D. J.; Woodrow, D. (Bulletins of American Paleontology, 2023)

The Devonian terrestrial system of New York - C. A. Ver Straeten (Devonian of New York,Volume 3: Frasnian to Famennian (Upper Devonian) stages and the Devonian terrestrial system in New York, 2023)
Late 18th to early 19th century reports on the rocks of the Catskill Mountains in eastern New York were followed by over 180 years of geological and paleobiological studies of the Devonian terrestrial succession, in the state and up and down eastern North America. Yet, nearly 230 years later these estimated ca. 2.4 km- (1.5 mi-) thick, homogenous strata remain a largely unknown frontier in many ways. Studies of Devonian terrestrial strata in New York over the last century include two different stratigraphic frameworks. The first, by George Chadwick (1930s–1940s), focused on the Catskill Front to the vicinity of Slide Mountain, highest peak in the Catskills. The second, by Fletcher and Rickard in the 1960s to mid-1970s, attempted to create a broader, more geographically inclusive chronostratigraphic nomenclature throughout the entire Catskills outcrop belt. Recent work indicates that in the field this latter model, based on thick lithosomes of red and gray rocks and conglomerates, is problematic. It can be seen as representing a “second draft” stratigraphic framework, in need of additional work and refinement. At this time, however, too little is known as to how to better ground the existing stratigraphy, or to propose a sound alternate stratigraphic framework for the Catskills succession. Other major foci in the Devonian terrestrial of New York include paleobotany (1950s–today), petrography (1960s–1980s), fluvial systems (1970s–1990s), and terrestrial arthropods (1980s–2000s). Broader paleobiological studies, in part associated with the Red Hill site in northern Pennsylvania, burgeoned in the 1990s and continue today. Recent Catskills terrestrial research of impact is perhaps largely paleobiological and includes the first complete Eospermatopteris (“Gilboa”) tree, mapping of wellpreserved forest floors, and increasing research on paleosols. Difficulties in research of Devonian terrestrial strata in New York include: the lateral discontinuity of terrestrial facies and the lack of documented, distinctive marker beds for correlation; little biostratigraphic and geochronologic control; extensive cover in sometimes rugged terrain; too few researchers, and a need for greater cross-disciplinary perspectives and communication. The purpose of recent and ongoing research by the author is multifold. First to systematically gather various data, such as event deposits, petrography, detrital zircon dating, and palynological biostratigraphy, top to bottom through the succession, initially in the classic Catskill Front to the vicinity of Slide Mountain, in the New York State Department of Conservation “Slide Mountain Wilderness” of the Catskill Park. Second within that succession, to better document depositional history, provenance, and biostratigraphy, and to know the succession more closely. Through this, the larger goal is to test the existing stratigraphic framework and try to ground that stratigraphy in the regional rock record better, or to develop a new stratigraphic framework. Key issues that remain largely unresolved in Devonian terrestrial strata of New York include: lack of a well-tested, viable, and correlatable stratigraphic framework; a general lack of chronostratigraphic data from palynological/microvertebrate biostratigraphy and radiometric ages from altered air fall volcanic tephra beds; and no systematic documentation of the vertical Catskill succession. Other future studies could include lateral, interstate/province comparisons of variations in provenance/drainage evolution along the Acadian (Acadian-Neoacadian) Foreland Basin and its subbasin known as the Appalachian Basin, via petrography, detrital mineral dating and other methods.

An introduction to the Devonian Period and the Devonian in New York State and North America - C. A. Ver Straeten (Devonian of New York, Volume 1: Introduction and Přídolí to lower Givetian (Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian) stages, 2023)
The Devonian strata in New York State were the standard section for North America for over 100 years, and remain a significant reference for regional to global correlation and research. Since publication of L. V. Rickard’s (1975) New York Devonian correlation chart, various higher-resolution stratigraphic analyses have been employed, sometimes at bed-by-bed scale. These include sequence-, bio-, event-, chemo-, and other -stratigraphic approaches, along with increasingly finer-resolution geochronologic dating of airfall volcanic tephras. Results have led to many new interpretations and insights of the succession. The purpose of this three-volume work is to produce a new Devonian stratigraphic synthesis for New York State, and to record, often in detail, current knowledge of the succession, and various other geologic and paleontologic aspects of it for current and future research and discussion. The purpose of this chapter is to provide overviews of the Devonian Period, the Devonian of North America (“Laurentia”), the Devonian of eastern Laurentia, and the Devonian of New York State. Furthermore, this review extends beyond the sedimentary rock and paleobiological record, and beyond the United States, Canada, and northern Mexico, to also summarize aspects of Devonian orogenesis, metasedimentary foreland basin fill, silicic igneous activity, complexities of terranes of Mexico and Central America, and Appalachian faunas that extended into South America. The Devonian Period as a whole encompasses 60 million years of time, approximately 419 to 359 million years ago. During that time, shallow seas covered large continental areas; climate was warmer globally than our current climate, during the late stage of a global greenhouse climate. By the end of the Devonian, that warm climate was descending into a time of global icehouse conditions, with widespread glaciation. The positions of modern continental masses were much different. During the Devonian Period, Life first fully colonized the land, led by primitive spore-bearing plants, small arthropods, and apparently by the Middle Devonian, the first tetrapod (“four-legged”) animals, which evolved from bony fishes. Decimeter-tall plants at the beginning of the period had evolved to tree-size forms by the Middle Devonian, approximately 30 million years later, and Earth’s first forest ecosystems arose. Devonian strata are widespread around the ancient continent “Laurentia,” which approximately corresponds to modern North America). At that time, Laurentia straddled the equator, with New York State and the Appalachian region somewhat north of 30° south latitude. Shallow epicontinental seas covered large but varying amounts of the continent over the period. Mountain belts formed on the eastern, northern, and western margins of Laurentia, due to plate tectonic collisions with smaller continental masses, exotic terranes, and volcanic island arcs. Through the Early to Middle Devonian, seas in western and eastern Laurentia were separated by a “transcontinental arch,” and generally had distinctly different marine faunas. In the latest Middle Devonian, sea level transgressed over the land barrier of the Laurentian Transcontinental Arch and the Canadian Shield, and those marine faunas mixed, leading to a more global cosmopolitan fauna in the Late Devonian. Anomalously, however, Early and Middle Devonian Laurentian shallow marine faunas are found in Devonian rocks in Central and South America, which were part of the southern Gondwana continent, generally thought to be separated from Laurentia by oceanic water depths at that time. During the Devonian, eastern Laurentia was an active tectonic margin, related to continent-continent collisions with various terranes/smaller continental masses. The Caledonian, Acadian, and Neoacadian orogenies resulted in compressional and some transpressional tectonics, and the uplift of an extensive mountain belt from east Greenland to Alabama and Georgia. Crustal loading of the orogen in eastern Laurentia led to subsidence and formation of a retroarc Acadian-Neoacadian Foreland Basin, which was initially filled with marine waters, followed by gradual overfilling to above sea level by massive volumes of synorogenic sediments from the east. The resulting lands were the site of some of the earliest forests on Earth, preserved at several sites in New York State, and forest ecosystems. Large-scale deformation, seismic activity, and metamorphism in the mountain belt were accompanied by igneous processes, including explosive eruption of felsic volcanic ash and other material, collectively termed “tephra,” also sometimes termed ash or tuff layers, or if diagenetically altered, sometimes termed bentonite, K-bentonite, metabentonite, or tonstein layers. These explosive Devonian eruptions sent volcanic tephra high into the atmosphere, and easterly winds spread airfall volcanic “tephra layers” across the eastern United States. Meanwhile, rock decay in the mountains led to the erosion, transport, and deposition of massive volumes of clays, silt, sand, and gravel into the Acadian-Neoacadian Foreland Basin, and beyond. Devonian rocks in New York are found at or just below the surface across approximately 40% of the state (~50,500 km²/19,500 mi²). The strata are generally undeformed and gently dipping, and while often covered by soil, glacial sediments, and vegetative cover, are relatively widely found in natural and man-made exposures. Three relatively thin intervals of carbonates are accompanied by eastward thickening wedges of synorogenic mudrocks, sandstones, and minor conglomerates. The history of geological and paleontological observation and study in New York began in the late 18th century. The first professional geologists appeared in the early 19th century. Since the advent of the first geological survey of New York State in 1836, the Devonian Period (nearly termed the “Erian Period” for New York’s Devonian-age rocks) has been the focus of a great volume of research which continues today. The Devonian succession in New York includes strata from all seven stages of the period, with erosional gaps of small to major significance. In addition to a range of marine facies, nearly one quarter of the entire area of Devonian bedrock in the state was deposited in terrestrial settings, with massive volumes of siliciclastic sediments shed off of Acadian-Neoacadian highlands to the east, that also feature the fossils of Earth’s oldest known forest ecosystems. The stratigraphic philosophy in New York has long evolved toward a hybrid classification, wherein groups, formations, and bed-level units are largely time-rock/allostratigraphic to occasionally chronostratigraphic, with lithostratigraphy often ascribed to member-level divisions (e.g., Pragian to Givetian strata, middle Lower to upper Middle Devonian). However, in some intervals, such as Frasnian strata (lower Upper Devonian), group-level units are time-rock units, and formation-level units within groups are largely lithostratigraphic. Forty-eight years of research since Rickard’s (1975) New York Devonian correlation chart permits development of a new, more refined chart (forthcoming), and also permits a new synthesis of Devonian rocks and fossils in New York, presented in this work of twelve chapters, with additional digital appendices.

Lower Middle Devonian (Eifelian–lower Givetian) strata of New York State: The Onondaga Formation and Marcellus Subgroup - C. A. Ver Straeten; Brett, C. E.; Baird, G. E.; Bartholomew, A. J.; Over, D. J. (Devonian of New York, Volume 1: Introduction and Přídolí to lower Givetian (Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian) stages, 2023)
Lower Middle Devonian strata (Eifelian to lower Givetian stages) of New York are identified under the names Onondaga and Marcellus. As has been New York practice for over 80 years, they represent time-significant allostratigraphic units, which to some degree cut across lithologic boundaries. The Onondaga Formation is a relatively tabular, limestone-dominated unit throughout New York. Strata thin from both east and west into more basinward facies in the central part of the state. In contrast, the (revised) “Marcellus subgroup” forms an eastward-thickening and coarsening wedge of siliciclastic-dominated facies. Marcellus-equivalent strata range in thickness from less than seven meters in the western New York subsurface to an estimated maximum thickness of 580 meters in the Hudson Valley, eastern New York. Few stratigraphic revisions have been proposed for the Onondaga Formation since 1975, beyond minor revisions to two members associated with the abandonment of the informal, former Clarence member, chert-rich facies in western New York. In contrast, the term “Marcellus” has been raised in New York State from formation to subgroup status, with three formation-level units: a lower Union Springs and coeval upper Marcellus Oatka Creek and Mount Marion formations. The latter two represent correlative basinal dark shales and proximal dark shales to shoreface sandstones, respectively. Overall, following Cooper’s classic 1930s stratigraphy of one formation with 11 members, 13 members are now recognized in the Marcellus subgroup; two in the Union Springs Formation and 11 in the upper Marcellus Oatka Creek and Mount Marion succession. Onondaga and Marcellus strata form three third-order depositional sequences, which feature three very distinct faunas. The sequences, termed Devonian Sequences Ic, Id, and Ie (alternatively Eif-1, Eif-2, and Eif-Giv) consist, respectively of 1) lower to middle Onondaga; 2) upper Onondaga and Union Springs; and 3) coeval Oatka Creek and Mount Marion formations, except where upper Mount Marion strata are not yet clearly distinguished form lower Skaneateles equivalents in eastern New York. The fossil assemblages of the Eifelian to lower Givetian have been subdivided into three “faunas” or ecological-evolutionary subunits. The oldest of the three faunas, the Onondaga Fauna, is succeeded by the Stony Hollow Fauna in shallow facies of the upper Union Springs and lowermost Mount Marion-Oatka Creek formations. The Stony Hollow Fauna is, in turn, succeeded by the classic Middle Devonian Hamilton Fauna throughout the remainder of upper Marcellus strata and Hamilton strata above. Numerous post-1970 studies have examined the stratigraphy, petrology, sedimentology, basin analyses, paleobiology, and geochemical characters of the Onondaga Formation and Marcellus subgroup. Overviews of these studies are presented herein. In the Appalachian Basin, the correlatives of these units across have been assigned the same names, Onondaga and Marcellus, in eastern Pennsylvania. More argillaceous Onondaga-correlative strata form the upper part of the Needmore Formation from central Pennsylvania to the vicinity of Highland and Pocahontas counties, in Virginia and West Virginia, respectively (Selinsgrove to the informal “calcareous shale and limestone” members). Continuing southwest along the Virginia-West Virginia border, Onondagacorrelative strata are replaced by chert and shale-dominated strata in the upper part of the Huntersville Formation. South of New York in the Appalachian Basin, the term “Marcellus” is applied lithostratigraphically, not allostratigraphically, so that lowest strata assigned the term Marcellus may variously range from lower Eifelian (middle Onondaga-equivalent, e.g., Frankstown, Pennsylvania) to correlative with the base of the Marcellus in New York. Similarly, youngest strata assigned to the Marcellus in Pennsylvania and southward may range from upper Eifelian Union Springs-equivalent (below proximal sandstones of the Turkey Ridge Member, central Pennsylvania) to lower Givetian, post-Marcellus black shales correlative with at least the Skaneateles Formation of New York in distal, basinward areas. From Highland County, Virginia, and adjacent West Virginia to the southwest, Marcellus strata are assigned to the lower part of the Millboro Shale, Finally, in southwestern Virginia and adjacent West Virginia, strata termed Marcellus in New York occur in lower parts of an interval sometimes termed “New Albany Shale” but shown by their correlation to be equivalent to upper Onondaga or lower Marcellus strata, based upon airfall volcanic tephras.

The Port Jervis, Oriskany, Esopus, and Schoharie formations, and equivalents: Pragian and Emsian strata of New York - C. A. Ver Straeten (Devonian of New York, Volume 1: Introduction and Přídolí to lower Givetian (Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian) stages, 2023)
Middle to upper Lower Devonian strata in New York are comprised of seven formations, in four distinct vertical packages. They were deposited over an interval of approximately 18.2 million years. The lowest strata (lower Pragian-age Port Jervis Limestone) occur only in the Tristates area, southeastern New York. Overlying upper Pragian-age units are the largely co-eval Oriskany Sandstone, Glenerie Cherty Limestone, and Connelly Conglomerate. Overlying synorogenic siliciclastics of the Esopus Formation (lower Emsian-age) are restricted to eastern to east-central New York. Overlying upper Emsian strata of the correlative Schoharie and Bois Blanc formations comprise mixed siliciclastic-carbonate and carbonate strata, respectively, with some quartz arenites, especially across central New York. These New York units, and their correlatives across the Appalachian Basin outcrop belt, areexamined and summarized. In nearly all of New York, some to all of these strata are absent at an erosional unconformity. The Tristates area at the meeting of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania is the only area of the outcrop belt where deposition was continuous through this time. To the overall north and west, a major Paleozoic sea level lowstand Å} crustal flexure during the Acadian orogeny led to development of an amalgamated series of unconformities, focused around the sub-Oriskany Wallbridge Unconformity. Maximum development of the unconformity in New York occurs in the west-central part of the state. In terms of sequence stratigraphy, the entire succession comprises six or seven major, third-order sequences. This includes two likely Pragian sequences, and five distinct Emsian-age sequences, all of which appear to be global. A series of altered airfall volcanic tephras occur in the lower part of the Esopus Formation; a few additional discrete airfall tephras are known from the Schoharie Formation. Faunal differences distinguish the four vertical packages of strata. Too little biostratigraphic data, however, continues to limit the accuracy of pinpointing stage boundaries in the New York and Appalachian Basin strata.

Preface - C. A. Ver Straeten (Devonian of New York, Volume 1: Introduction and Přídolí to lower Givetian (Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian) stages, 2023)

Review and Development of Best Practices for Toxicity Tests with Dreissenid Mussels - Waller, Diane; Pucherelli, Sherri; Barbour, Matthew; Tank, Samantha; Meulemans, Matthew; Wise, Jeremy; Dahlberg, Angelique; Aldridge, David C.; Claudi, Renata; Cope, W. Gregory; Gillis, Patricia L.; Kashian, Donna R.; et al. (Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2023)
Since their introduction to North America in the 1980s, research to develop effective control tools for invasive mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensis) has been ongoing across various research institutions using a range of testing methods. Inconsistencies in experimental methods and reporting present challenges for comparing data, repeating experiments, and applying results. The Invasive Mussel Collaborative established the Toxicity Testing Work Group (TTWG) in 2019 to identify “best practices” and guide development of a standard framework for dreissenid mussel toxicity testing protocols. We reviewed the literature related to laboratory-based dreissenid mussel toxicity tests and determined the degree to which standard guidelines have been used and their applicability to dreissenid mussel testing. We extracted detailed methodology from 99 studies from the peer-reviewed and gray literature and conducted a separate analysis for studies using presettlement and postsettlement mussels. We identified specific components of methods and approaches that could be refined or standardized for dreissenid mussels. These components included species identification, collection methods, size/age class distinction, maintenance practices, testing criteria, sample size, response measures, reporting parameters, exposure methods, and mortality criteria. We consulted experts in the field of aquatic toxicology and dreissenid mussel biology on our proposed. The final recommendations contained in the present review are based on published standard guidelines, methods reported in the published and gray literature, and the expertise of TTWG members and an external panel. In addition, our review identifies research needs for dreissenid mussel testing including improved methods for early–life stage testing, comparative data on life stages and between dreissenid mussel species, inclusion of a reference toxicant, and additional testing of nontarget species (i.e., other aquatic organisms).

Implementation plan of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program strategy—Northeast region of the United States: New York and New England - Walsh, G. J.; Thomas, M. A.; Marvinney, R. G.; Mabee, S. B.; Chormann, F. H.; A. L. Kozlowski; Gale, M. H.; Kim, J.; Savage, B. (Open-File Report, 2023)
<aside class="publication-aside">Complexly deformed igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks form the bedrock of the Northeast region of the United States. Variably thick unconsolidated sediments deposited by glacial, fluvial, and eolian systems locally cover the bedrock. New geologic mapping focuses on areas lacking modern, detailed studies or syntheses, and contributes to existing framework research. This report addresses plans for the continued development of regionally and nationally consistent geologic maps and map databases, efforts to answer outstanding geologic questions, and societal concerns associated with related geologic topics, such as hazards, geologic and hydrologic resources, and environmental issues.</aside>

Introduction: Exploring African American Contexts in New York Archaeology - Weed, C. S.; D. E. Merwin (The Bulletin: Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association, 2023)
Archaeology, at its best, renders communities that are under-represented in traditional historical narratives discernible. Such communities in New York include those of enslaved, formerly enslaved, and free African American people. The Introduction to this NYSAA Bulletin explores the two research themes pursued by five of the authors who presented papers at the October 1, 2022, NYAC Fall Symposium entitled “Exploring African American Contexts in New York Archaeology.” Weed and Merwin summarize the papers while focusing on the research themes of site types and culturally-defined objects that were pursued by the presenters. Weed and Merwin concluded that the papers in the volume, along with others presented at the October 2022 NYAC meeting, represent a significant contribution to our understanding of African American archaeological sites in New York State, especially those outside of urban centers.

A Revision of the New World Moth Genus Athyrma Hübner (LEPIDOPTERA: EREBIDAE) - Adams, M. S.; T. L. McCabe (Zootaxa, 2022)
The genus Athyrma Hübner, [1823] 1816 is revised, with a generic re-description and transcriptions of original descriptions (with translations) of all described species provided. Sixteen Athyrma species are recognized in this paper. Nine species are new: A. brigittae Adams & McCabe sp. nov., A. tapichensis Adams & McCabe, sp. nov., A. urbanae Adams & McCabe, sp. nov., A. yasuni Adams & McCabe, sp. nov., A. ciboney McCabe & Adams, sp. nov., A. cryani McCabe & Adams, sp. nov., A. itatiaia McCabe & Adams, sp. nov., A. romacki McCabe & Adams, sp. nov., and A. svensoni McCabe & Adams, sp. nov. Taxonomic changes are as follows: Athyrma antica Schaus, 1912, syn. nov., a junior synonym of A. nodosa; A. cunesema Hampson, 1926, syn. nov., a junior synonym of A. cunesema; “Athyrma” cordigera Walker, 1869, comb. nov., syn. nov., a junior synonym of Celiptera levina Stoll, 1781. A lectotype is designated for A. adjutrix (Cramer, 1780). Neotypes are designated for four species: Athyrma nodosa Möschler, 1880, A. orbana Möschler, 1880, A. tuberosa (Felder and Rogenhofer, 1874), and A. ganglio Hübner, [1831] 1825. Athyrma ganglio Hübner, [1831] 1825, rest. stat. and A. dormitrix Guenée in Boisduval and Guenée, 1852, rest. stat. are removed from synonymy and restored as valid species. Athyrma has been associated with the Eulepidotinae however is here tentatively assigned to Erebinae: Poaphilini because of its similarity to Mimophisma Hampson, 1926. Illustrations of male and female adult habitus, ultimate instar larva, dissections of male and female external and internal genitalia are provided. Athyrma misera Butler, 1879 is removed from Athyrma and placed in Ezra gen. nov. Nymbis resecta Dognin, 1912 is removed from its current placement in Athyrma and placed in Facies gen. nov. Checklists of all three genera are provided.

Bedrock Topography of Cayuga County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski; Bird, B. C. (Map & Chart, 2022)

Drift Thickness of Cayuga County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski; Bird, B. C. (Map & Chart, 2022)

Surficial Geology of the Lisle 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Broome and Tioga Counties, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski (Map & Chart, 2022)

Surficial Geology of the Lisle 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Broome and Tioga Counties, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2022)

Surficial Geology of the Richford 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Tioga and Tompkins Counties, New York - Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2022)

On the morphospace of eurypterine sea scorpions - Bicknell, R. D. C.; L. Amati (Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2022)
Eurypterids (sea scorpions) are a group of extinct, marine euchelicerates that have an extensive Palaeozoic record. Despite lacking a biomineralised exoskeleton, eurypterids are abundantly preserved within select deposits. These collections make statistical analyses comparing the morphology of different genera possible. However, eurypterid shape has not yet been documented with modern geometric morphometric tools. Here, we summarise the previous statistical assessments of eurypterid morphology and expand this research by presenting landmark and semi-landmark analyses of 115 eurypterid specimens within the suborder Eurypterina. We illustrate that lateral compound eye morphology and position drives specimen placement in morphospace and separates proposed apex predators from more generalist forms. Additionally, evidence for size clusters in Eurypterus that may reflect ontogeny is uncovered. We highlight the use of geometric morphometric analyses in supporting the naming of new taxa and demonstrate that these shape data represent a novel means of understanding inter-generic ontogenetic trajectories and uncovering developmental changes within the diverse euarthropod group.
Keywords: Euchelicerata; Eurypterida; geometric morphometrics; morphology; ontogeny

Leptaenella Ventricosa (Hall, 1857) from the Middle Early Devonian (Pragian) of New York and Eastern North America and a Redescription of the Brachiopod Genus Leptaenella Frederiks, 1918 - Blodgett, R. B.; Feldman, H.R.; C. A. Ver Straeten; Baranov, V. V.; Garcia-Alcalde, J .L. (Fossil Record 8, 2022)
The presence of the leptaenid brachiopod Leptanella ventricosa (Hall 1857) is documented in detail from the Lower Devonian (global upper Pragian age) of the Glenerie Limestone and Oriskany Sandstone formations of the Hudson Valley, New York. The species was selected by Fredericks (1981) as the type species for his new genus Leptaenella. His genus name has been long ignored and seemingly almost forgotten, but we provide a redescription of this important species and the host genus due to its prominence in the Glenerie-Oriskany interval fauna. The Glenerie Limestone is overlain by deeper water facies of the Emsian Stage Esopus Formation and underlain by the Port Ewen Formation, and argillaceous limestone indicative of deep water. The overall environment of deposition of the Glenerie was marine., below normal wave base. The fauna is dominated by common Lower Divonian brachiopods (32 genera such as Dalmanella, Coelospira, Discomyorthis, Megastrophia, Leptonella, Ascrospirfer, Costispirfer, and Cyrtina) with gastropods, rare trilobites, crinoids, and corals. Leptaenella occurs in the Appalachian Basin and the craton to the southwest (i.e., Tennessee, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Missouri) that were part of the biogeographic entity denoted as the Eastern Americas Realm. The genus Lepaenella si so far known only from the late Pragian (late Devonian) of the Appohimshi Subprovince.

Archaeological Data Recovery Plan of the Lambs Corners Precontact Site (USN 01703.000180), PIN 9056.48.121 New York State Route 8 Safety Improvement Project, Town of Columbus, Chenango County, New York - J. S. Cardinal; D. E. Merwin (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2022)

Archaeological Data Recovery Report, PIN 2134.41.321, NY Routes 5, 8, & 12, North-South Arterial Reconstruction, 613 Court Street Site (06540.001668; NYSM #12166), City of Utica, Oneida County, New York - J. S. Cardinal (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2022)

Cultural Resource Archaeological Survey and Monitoring Report, PIN 5410.54.321, Robert Moses State Parkway (New York State Route 957A), South Segment, City of Niagara Falls, Niagara County, New York - J. S. Cardinal (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2022)