Misikella

Misikella
Temporal range:
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Agnatha
Class: Conodonta
Order: Ozarkodinida
Family: Gondolellidae
Genus: Misikella
Kozur and Mock 1974
Species
  • Misikella buseri?
  • Misikella hernsteini
  • Misikella koessenensis
  • Misikella kolarae
  • Misikella kovacsi
  • Misikella lanceolata
  • Misikella longidentata (type)?
  • Misikella posthernsteini (type)
  • Misikella rhaetica
  • Misikella ultima

Misikella is an extinct genus of conodonts.

Two species were named as type species for the genus in separate publications by the same authors in the same year (1974). The first paper named Misikella longidentata, while the second named Misikella posthernsteini. Most species assigned to Misikella have a Norian-Rhaetian distribution and a bimembrate conodont apparatus, including M. posthernsteini. On the other hand, M. longidentata has a Carnian-Norian distribution and a tetramembrate apparatus. Fåhræus & Ryley (1989) retained the name Misikella for only M. longidentata, placing the rest of the species into the new genus Axiothea. However, other conodont specialists utilize the name Misikella primarily in the context of M. posthernsteini and other bimembrate species, rather than M. longidentata. Uniquely, M. posthernsteini is known from the Hettangian of Japan, suggesting that conodonts underwent extinction debt and then were outcompeted by other organisms.