37
4
March
781
799
SANSOM, I. J., ARMSTRONG, H. A., SMITH, M. 1995. The apparatus architecture of Panderodus and its implications for coniform conodont classification. Palaeontology, 37, 4, 781–799.
Ivan J. Sansom, Howard A. Armstrong and M. Paul Smith The apparatus composition and architecture of the coniform conodont genus Panderodus (Llanvirn-Givetian) has been reconstructed from a bedding plane assemblage associated with soft parts from the Waukesha lagerstatte of Wisconsin, together with published clusters and discrete element collections. This modelling enables a redefinition of the apparatus and species concepts within Panderodus, which is now reconstructed as a nonimembrate apparatus, with four subdivisions in the graciliform element category. Architecturally the apparatus falls into three locational domains. The architecture of panderodontid conodonts confirms their status as a distinct ordinal-level group. Extrapolating this architectural model, it has been possible to recognize recurrent apparatus styles within non-panderodontid coniform genera such as Besselodus and Dapsilodus, lending a firm basis to their suprageneric classification. The Palaeontological Association (Free Access)