A warm, shallow sea covered New Hampshire in the early Paleozoic. During the Devonian, the geological forces raised the local elevation. Local sediments were eroded from this “White Mountain State” rather than deposited within, leaving few rocks and fossils behind. Erosion continued through the Mesozoic and mid-Cenozoic, leading to a gap in the local rock record. Still, that’s not to say that the state was devoid of prehistoric life. Despite the geological complications, some fossils have been discovered in some parts of the state. Read on for more information about the six extinct species of animals that lived in New Hampshire.
6 Animals That Lived in New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s warm, shallow sea was once inhabited by creatures like corals, crinoids, trilobites, brachiopods, gastropods, and bryozoans. Sites where these Devonian remains have been found, include a stratigraphic unit called the Fitch Formation and the Tip Top Farm near Littleton. Let’s find out more about these incredible creatures.
1. Trilobites
Trilobites are extinct marine animals that formed one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. Their first fossils date back to the Early Cambrian period, about 521 million years ago. These marine arthropods flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic and started declining during the Devonian. All species died out, except the Proetida. The last extant trilobites were finally wiped out in the mass extinction about 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian. Trilobites left an extensive fossil record since they were highly diversified and geographically dispersed. The study of their fossils has facilitated significant contributions to New Hampshire’s evolutionary biology and paleontology. Trilobites evolved into many habitats. While some swam in water bodies feeding on plankton, others moved over the seabed as filter feeders, scavengers, or predators. A few species of trilobites crawled onto land. It’s believed that some trilobites may have developed a symbiotic relationship with sulfur-eating bacteria from where they derived food.
2. Crinoids
Crinoids are small marine mammals that anchor themselves on the sea bottom and feed through tentacle-surrounded mouths. There are about 600 extant crinoid species, but they were much more diverse and abundant in the past than they are today. Some of the thick limestone beds that date back to the mid-Paleozoic have been discovered in New Hampshire and are almost entirely made up of disarticulated crinoid fragments. The earliest crinoid group dates back to about 480 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period. After the end-Permian extinction, these species never regained their Paleozoic morphological diversity and dominant position. Crinoid fossils are still abundant in sedimentary rocks and seem to have lived attached to floating driftwood.
3. Ancient Corals
Corals are tiny, marine, colony-dwelling animals. They first appeared in the Cambrian about 535 million years ago. They were prevalent across North America, and some of their striking fossil specimens have been discovered in New Hampshire. Early corals became dominant by the middle of the Silurian period and the Devonian. During this time, they flourished with more than 200 genera. Some corals, including the tabulate and rugose, became extinct roughly 250 million years ago in the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Since then, there was a tens of millions of years gap until new forms of corals reappeared in the Triassic. The modern corals reappeared in the Middle Triassic to fill the niche previously occupied by the extinct tabulate and rugose orders. The modern corals are not closely related to the earlier forms. While the contemporary corals form skeletons that are composed of aragonite, the ancient corals formed skeletons in the configuration of calcium carbonate called calcite.
4. Bryozoans
Bryozoans are tiny, filter-feeding aquatic invertebrates that live in sedentary colonies. They are typically around 0.5 mm (0.02 inches) long. Bryozoans’ skeletons were first discovered in rocks from the early Ordovician Period, though it’s likely that they appeared earlier and were entirely soft-bodied. Fossils of bryozoan colonies have been found highly fragmented and scattered in New Hampshire. These species are among the three dominant groups of Paleozoic fossils. However, bryozoan colonies did not reach large sizes like corals and other colonial animals found in the fossil record.
5. Brachiopods
Brachiopods are small ocean-dwelling creatures that have hard shells. Inarticulate forms appeared first, followed soon after by articulated forms. These species were widespread in New Hampshire during the Paleozoic Era. The only extant fossils in New Hampshire date from the Silurian, Ordovician, and Devonian periods, roughly 400 to 300 million years ago. Although brachiopods continue to flourish today, a wide range of ancient species was permanently destroyed in the Permian-Triassic Extinction, which negatively affected approximately 95% of the marine animals.
6. Gastropods
Gastropods are comprised of snails and slugs from freshwater, saltwater, and land. There are a thousand species of these invertebrates, and their fossils date back to the Late Cambrian. As of 2017, approximately 721 families of gastropods have been identified, of which 476 are extant with or without a fossil record, while 245 are extinct and only appear in the fossil record. There are at least 15,000 prehistoric species of arthropods recorded across all states, including New Hampshire. Unlike the earliest gastropods, which were exclusively marine, some of the most familiar and best-known gastropods today are terrestrial. They have adapted to almost every kind of habitat worldwide, from the near-Arctic to Antarctic zones, having colonized nearly every available medium. Some snails have even adapted to desert conditions. In addition, other animals, including birds, accidentally transfer gastropods from one habitat to another.
