Publications

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.