Sweetognathus | |
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Genus: | †Sweetognathus |
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Sweetognathus is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Sweetognathidae that evolved at the beginning of the Permian period (298.9 Ma), in near-equatorial, shallow-water seas.[2]
The genus is characterized by pustulose ornamentation on a wide, flat-topped carina. It originated in the earliest Permian as S. expansus from Diplognathodus edentulus.[3]
Sweetognathus forms a species complex.[4]
The genus is named after paleontologist Walter C. Sweet.
It has been found that recurrent parallel species pairs have occurred throughout Sweetognathus evolution between populations originating in Bolivia, the Mid-Western Unitied States, and Russia.[2] Parallelisms have been found to occur in the denticle morphologies of their platform elements.[2]
According to the List of Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points, the species Sweetognathus whitei made its first appearance during the Artinskian (some 290.1 ± 0.26 mya), in the Permian of the Ural mountains.
The species Sweetognathus merrelli is near first appearance during the Sakmarian (some 295.0 ± 0.18 mya) in the Permian of Kondurovsky, Orenburg, Russia.[5]