Upper Silurian conodonts from the Ockerkalk limestone of southeastern Sardinia (Italy)

The large conodont collection from the upper Silurian Ockerkalk limestone exposed in southeastern Sardinia is herein revised and integrated with new data. The eleven studied sections are briefly described and characterised biostratigraphically. The recovered fauna includes 48 taxa at species and subspecies level, belonging to 19 genera. Seven biozones from the uppermost part of the Kockelella variabilis variabilis interval Zone (top Gorstian) to the Lower Oulodus elegans detortus Zone (upper P & rcaron;idoli) are discriminated. Sedimentation of the Ockerkalk did not reach the Silurian-Devonian boundary, as previously supposed. The new species Pelekysgnathus crispus sp. nov., Wurmiella arcuata sp. nov., Wu. lucae sp. nov., Wu. pulchra sp. nov., and Wu. silurica sp. nov. are described, and two more taxa (Pelekysgnathus sp. B and Wurmiella sp. C) are left in open nomenclature. The species Ozarkodina cf. nasuta (Viira, 1983), Parazieglerodina auriformis (Simpson, 2003), Wurmiella alternata Corradini & Corriga, 2010, Zieglerodina ivochlupachi Carls et al., 2007, and Zieglerodina zellmeri Carls et al., 2007 are reported for the first time in Sardinia. center dot