In this installment of the Jawlessfish series we finally conclude our coverage of the Conodonts with the last family of Ozarkodinida, the Spathognathodontidae.Given that we've reached the end of the clade let us talk about why they went extinct.
Conodonts much like ammonites and trilobites (and unique for a vertebrate) underwent a number of cycles of diversification and decline First emerging in the Middle Cambrian hey reached a peak of diversity in the middle Ordovician but the End Ordovician saw a massive decline due to the Ordovician mass extinction. They sorta remained in low/moderate diversity through the Silurian but then saw a second huge diversification in the middle Devonian. They then saw a series of extinctions and declines throughout the Carboniferous and Permian due to Marine regressions tied to Glacial events that led to decreases in their preferred habitats of continental shelfs. Despite this decline in diversity they actually survived The Great Dying that wiped out many other iconic Paleozoic marine groups and experienced a third great diversification event on par with the last two in the early Permian. Sadly they entered into another decline by the Middle Triassic. and the last two genera (Misikella) and (Neohindeodella) dying out at the very start of the Jurassic. Why they ultimately went extinct is due to emergence of more derived ray finned fish that they competed against
Top Row: Flajsella, Lanea
Second Row: Ozarkodina, Spathognathodus
Third Row: Tortodus, Wumiella
Bottom Row: Zieglerodina
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