Research paper

**Microstructure of the Triassic conodont Pseudofurnishius murcianus van den Boogaard: Functional implications.**

CARLOS MARTÍNEZ-PÉREZ
School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK. Carlos.Martinez-Perez@bristol.ac.uk Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva y Departamento de Geology, Universidad de Valencia, Dr. Moliner, 50 Burjassot, 46100, Valencia, Spain.
Corresponding author

PABLO PLASENCIA
Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva y Departamento de Geology, Universidad de Valencia, Dr. Moliner, 50 Burjassot, 46100, Valencia, Spain. Pablo.Plasencia@uv.es

ANA MÁRQUEZ-ALIAGA
Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva y Departamento de Geology, Universidad de Valencia, Dr. Moliner, 50 Burjassot, 46100, Valencia, Spain. Ana.Marquez@uv.es

ABSTRACT

Pseudofurnishius murcianus van den Boogaard is a Triassic conodont with a very characteristic morphology, a blade with a rostral platform heavily denticulated, that makes it easily distinguishable from other coeval species. It is a well-know taxon that has been the object of several palaeobiological works, focused on their apparatus reconstruction, ontogeny and, recently, their P₁ element function. In order to increase our palaeobiology knowledge of this taxon we undertook a histological analysis to corroborate the functional hypothesis established for this conodont. The histological study demonstrated the presence of different microstructural types, suggesting that they are functional adaptions due to the slicing function that the P₁elements performed.

Keywords: Microstructure, conodont function, palaeobiology.

How to cite: Martínez-Pérez, C., Plasencia, P. & Márquez-Aliaga, A. 2015. Microstructure of the Triassic conodont Pseudofurnishius murcianus van den Boogaard. Functional implications. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 30 (1), 109-116.

Received 07 November 2013, Accepted 11 April 2014, Published 30 June 2015

https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.30.1.17205