Aragonitic rostra of the Turonian belemnitid Goniacamax: arguments from diagenesis

The hypothesis that belemnitid rostra are formed by primary biogenic low−Mg calcite is widespread. However, the coexistence in the same rostrum of both aragonitic and calcitic components has been reported in true belemnites (Goniocamax, Turonian). A combined microstructural and chemical composition study of the comparison of shells with undisputed mineralogy from the same site as the Turonian Goniocamax, shows that these aragonitic shells display the effects of diagenetic alteration. These observations favour the hypothesis that belemnite rostra are composed of primary aragonite, rather than low−Mg calcite, and are consistent with all other cephalopod shells. Calcitic and aragonitic rostra are also known in other Dibranchiata such as Triassic Aulacocerida and Eocene Belopterina. Diagenetic changes such as shown here may clearly affect palaeo−environmental interpretations based on carbonate shells

Hyaline tissue of thermally unaltered conodont elements and the enamel of vertebrates

Comparison of the ultrastructure of the hyaline tissue of conodont elements and the enamel of vertebrates provides little support for a close phylogenetic relationship between conodonts and vertebrates. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy shows that the mineralised component of the hyaline tissue of Panderodus and of Cordylodus elements consists of large, flat, oblong crystals, arranged in layers that run parallel to the long axis of the conodont. Enamel in the dentition of a living vertebrate, the lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri, has crystals of calcium hydroxyapatite, arranged in layers, and extending in groups from the dentine-enamel junction; the crystals are slender, elongate spicules perpendicular to the surface of the tooth plate, Similar crystal arrangements to those of lungfish are found in other vertebrates, but none resembles the organisation of the hyaline tissue of conodont elements, The crystals of hydroxyapatite in conodont hyaline tissue are exceptionally large, perpendicular or parallel to the surface of the element, with no trace of prisms, unlike the protoprismatic radial crystallite enamel of fish teeth and scales, or the highly organised prismatic enamel of mammals