Editing Conodont (section)

{{short description|Extinct agnathan chordates resembling eels}}
{{Distinguish|Conodon|Cynodont}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Conodonts
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Miaolingian|Triassic|[[Middle Cambrian]] to [[Early Jurassic|Earliest Jurassic]] ([[Hettangian]])}}
| image = Conodonts from the Glen Dean formation (Chester) of the Illinois basin (1958) (20654535006).jpg
| image_caption = Conodont elements
| image2 = 
| image2_caption = 
| taxon = Conodonta
| authority = [[Heinz Christian Pander|Pander]], 1856
| synonyms = *{{extinct}}'''Conodontophorida''' <small>[[Wilhelm Eichenberg|Eichenberg]], 1930</small><ref name="Eichenberg-1930" />
*{{extinct}}'''Euconodonta'''
| subdivision_ranks = Subgroups
| subdivision = *'''Cavidonti'''
**[[Belodellida]]?
**[[Proconodontida]]
*'''Conodonti'''
**[[Protopanderodontida]] <small>([[paraphyletic]])</small>
**[[Panderodontida]]
**[[Prioniodontida]]
***[[Prioniodinida]]
***[[Ozarkodinida]]
}}
'''Conodonts''', are an [[extinct]] group of marine [[jawless vertebrates]] belonging to the [[Class (biology)|class]] '''Conodonta''' (from [[Ancient Greek]] κῶνος (''kōnos''), meaning "[[cone]]", and ὀδούς (''odoús''), meaning "[[tooth]]"). They are primarily known from their hard, mineralised tooth-like structures called "conodont elements" that in life were present in the oral cavity and used to process food. Rare soft tissue remains suggest that they had elongate eel-like bodies with large eyes. Conodonts were a long-lasting group with over 300 million years of existence from the [[Cambrian]] (over 500 million years ago) to the beginning of the [[Jurassic]] (around 200 million years ago). Conodont elements are highly distinctive to particular species and are widely used in [[biostratigraphy]] as indicative of particular periods of geological time.