The Middle Ordovician conodonts Eoplacognathus robustus Bergstrom and E. lindstroemi (Hamar): Taxonomy and apparatus reconstruction

The Middle-Upper Ordovician Ponon Trehue Formation cropping out in the San Rafael Block (Argentina) provided a large collection of conodonts which have been published years ago. The species Eoplacognathus robustus and Eoplacognathus lindstroemi recovered from these strata have been revised and restudied. In this contribution we describe M and S elements that were assigned previously to Baltoniodus prevariabilis and Baltoniodus variabilis as belonging to the E. robustus and E. lindstroemi apparatuses. The morphological characters of the P, S and M elements as part of these late Eoplacognathus apparatus were analyzed and support the proposal of a new reconstruction of it. We have compared this apparatus with the Baltoniodus apparatus and suggest the inclusion of the Eoplacognathus genus into the Balognathidae family. The new architecture of the Eoplacognathus apparatus is comparable to the genus Lenodus. This analysis improves the knowledge about this index conodont group allowing a new insight on the evolution, phylogeny and paleobiology of this linage.