Tarimspira artemi, a new paraconodont from the early Cambrian

[Halichoeres]

This is the earliest record of a Tarimpsira species, extending their geological range. These have been hypothesized to be the forerunners of the true conodont animals, which are probably (jawless) stem-gnathostomes but might be stem-vertebrates. If these are homologous with conodont elements, there were a lot of weird fishlike things swimming around in the Cambrian whose appearance is almost completely unknown. But we have these tiny pieces of their mouthparts:



Paper looks to be open access, but if you can't get it you can message me for a pdf: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/tarimspira-from-the-cambrian-series-2-stage-4-of-laurentia-greenland-extending-the-skeletal-record-of-paraconodontid-vertebrates/4218002654632BE6B837982ACE693BDD