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More than thirty years have passed since Lindstrom (1964) suggested that the internal structure of conodont elements was potentially of greater taxonomic significance than external morphology. However, although this sparked new interest in the study of conodont hard tissues, leading to the seminal works of Miiller & Nogami (1971) and Bengston (1976), Lindstrom’s expectations were never tested. The reason for this surely lies with the difficulty in studying the microstructure of conodont elements, which requires that thin sections are manufactured. This process is both laborious and fraught with technical difficulties that can only be overcome with experience.

The recent renaissance in conodont hard-tissue histology has demonstrated not only the homology of conodont hard tissues with those of vertebrates (Sansom et al. 1992, 1994; Sansom 1996; Smith et al. 1996; Donoghue, in press) but also the potential utility …