| Paracordylodus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | † Conodonta |
| Family: | † Paracordylodontidae |
| Genus: | † Paracordylodus Lindström, 1971 [1] |
| Species | |
| |
Paracordylodus is an extinct genus of conodonts in the clade Prioniodontida, also known as the "complex conodonts". The species P. gracilis has been recovered from the chert of the Narooma Terrane, a geological structural region on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. [3]
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Mya.
Conodonts are extinct agnathan chordates resembling eels, classified in the class Conodonta. For many years, they were known only from tooth-like microfossils found in isolation and now called conodont elements. Knowledge about soft tissues remains limited. The animals are also called Conodontophora to avoid ambiguity.
Baltica is a paleocontinent that formed in the Paleoproterozoic and now constitutes northwestern Eurasia, or Europe north of the Trans-European Suture Zone and west of the Ural Mountains. The thick core of Baltica, the East European Craton, is more than three billion years old and formed part of the Rodinia supercontinent at c. 1 Ga.
The Tremadocian is the lowest stage of Ordovician. Together with the later Floian stage it forms the Lower Ordovician epoch. The Tremadocian lasted from 485.4 to 477.7 million years ago. The base of the Tremadocian is defined as the first appearance of the conodont species Iapetognathus fluctivagus at the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) section on Newfoundland.
Promissum is an extinct genus of conodonts, primitive chordates, that lived during the Upper Ordovician period.
The Narooma Accretionary Complex or Narooma Terrane is a geological structural region on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia that is the remains of a subduction zone or an oceanic terrane. It can be found on the surface around Narooma, Batemans Bay and down south into Victoria near Mallacoota. It has attached itself to the Lachlan Fold Belt and has been considered as either an exotic terrane or as a part of the fold belt. Rocks are turbidites, block in matrix mélange, chert, and volcanics. The accretionary complex itself could either be the toe of a subduction zone, or an accretionary prism. It was moved by the Pacific Plate westwards for about 2500 km until it encountered the east coast of Gondwana. It is part of the Mallacoota Zone according to Willman, which in turn is part of the Eastern Lachlan Fold Belt, which is part of the Benambra Terrane.
Kazakhstania, the Kazakh terranes, or the Kazakhstan Block, is a geological region in Central Asia which consists of the area roughly centered on Lake Balkhash, north and east of the Aral Sea, south of the Siberian craton and west of the Altai Mountains. The Junggar basin in Xinjiang, China, is also part of Kazakhstania, though sometimes referred to as the Junggar Block. Because the Kazakh terranes merged during the Late Ordovician as part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt they are also referred to as the Kazakh Orogen. These terranes are located in what is today Kazakhstan, north-eastern Uzbekistan, northern Kyrgyzstan, south-western China. Today Kazakhstania is surrounded by three large, former continents: to the north-east the Gornostaev Shear Zone separates it from Siberia with which it collided during the Carboniferous; to the north-west is Baltica which lay adjacent to the Kazakh Tourgai terrane but far away from Kazakhstania; to the south and east was Gondwana stretching from the South Pole to the Equator. Not far away from the dispersed Kazakh terranes were South China, North China, and Tarim, but how these continental blocks were positioned relative to Gondwana is not known.
Archeognathus is a fossilized jaw apparatus of a large predatory conodont from the Ordovician period. Its large size has made classification difficult, and it has historically been compared to conodonts and gnathostomes since its remains were first discovered in Missouri. Complete articulated jaw apparatus of Archeognathus primus are common in the Winneshiek Shale lagerstätte of Iowa, allowing its identity as a conodont to be secured.
Prioniodontida, also known as the "complex conodonts", is a large clade of conodonts that includes two major evolutionary grades; the Prioniodinina and the Ozarkodinina. It includes many of the more famous conodonts, such as the giant ordovician Promissum (Prioniodinina) from the Soom Shale and the Carboniferous specimens from the Granton Shrimp bed (Ozarkodinina). They are euconodonts, in that their elements are composed of two layers; the crown and the basal body, and are assumed to be a clade.
The Famatinian orogeny is an orogeny that predates the rise of the Andes and that took place in what is now western South America during the Paleozoic, leading to the formation of the Famatinian orogen also known as the Famatinian belt. The Famatinian orogeny lasted from the Late Cambrian to at least the Late Devonian and possibly the Early Carboniferous, with orogenic activity peaking about 490 to 460 million years ago. The orogeny involved metamorphism and deformation in the crust and the eruption and intrusion of magma along a Famatinian magmatic arc that formed a chain of volcanoes. The igneous rocks of the Famatinian magmatic arc are of calc-alkaline character and include gabbros, tonalites and granodiorites. The youngest igneous rocks of the arc are granites.
Erraticodon is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Chirognathidae.
Balognathidae is an extinct conodont family.
Notiodella is an extinct conodont genus in the family Balognathidae. It has been described from a 17-element apparatus from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte in South Africa.
Amorphognathus is an extinct conodont genus in the family Balognathidae from the Ordovician.
Appalachignathus is a genus of multielement conodonts from the Middle Ordovician of North America.
Baltoniodus is an extinct genus of conodonts.
Microzarkodina is an extinct genus of conodonts mainly from the Middle Ordovician of Baltoscandia. The Microzarkodina apparatus probably consisted of 15 or 17 elements: four P, two or four M and nine S elements. The S elements include different Sa, Sb1, Sb2, and Sc element types.
Protoprioniodus is an extinct genus of conodonts.
The Takaka Terrane is a Paleozoic terrane that outcrops in the South Island of New Zealand. It is most extensively exposed within the Kahurangi National Park in the Tasman District. The terrane is mostly made up of marble and volcanic rocks but is highly variable in composition. It ranges in age from mid-Cambrian to Devonian time, including New Zealand's oldest rocks, which are found in the Cobb Valley in north-west Nelson. The Cobb Valley is also the location of "Trilobite Rock" a glacial dropstone made from the moulted exoskeletons of trilobites. Asbestos was mined in the Cobb Valley from the Takaka Terrene between the late 1880s and 1917. The Takaka Terrane is highly deformed and has been intruded by many batholiths.
The Winneshiek Shale is a Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian-age) geological formation in Iowa. The formation is restricted to the Decorah crater, an impact crater near Decorah, Iowa. Despite only being discovered in 2005, the Winneshiek Shale is already renowned for the exceptional preservation of its fossils. The shale preserves a unique ecosystem, the Winneshiek biota, which is among the most remarkable Ordovician lagerstätten in the United States. Fossils include the oldest known eurypterid, Pentecopterus, as well as giant conodonts such as Iowagnathus and Archeognathus.
 | This article about a conodont is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
