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Ozarkodina typica

Ozarkodina typica (8)

This fossil is a member of one of the most important but least understood groups of animals - the Conodonts ➚.

Living from 515 through to 210 million years ago this long extinct group have left only their teeth behind in the fossil record.

The teeth are actual minute - only about a millimeter in size and are only clearly seen when the bulk of the rock has been carefully dissolved leaving the calcium phosphate/apatite material behind.

There are indications that the animals were worm like creatures with prominent eyes but this is still a matter of debate. They are considered by many palaeontologists as an early form of vertebrate.

They are important in stratigraphy because they evolved rapidly and lived in a wide ranges of different environment types.

Ozarkodina typica lived in the middle Silurian and can be found in Salop.

Fossil gallery