• hard parts of early proto-vertebrates (?part of the mouth parts/feeding apparatus)
• phosphatic mineralisation
• geologic range: Precambrian – Triassic; important fossils for biostratigraphy in Paleozoic rocks
• biostratigraphically significant in the Paleozoic but with relatively few practicing specialists

Assorted conodont elements. The fossil animal from which conodonts may have derived has only been discovered relatively recently.