Scabbardella Orchard, 1980

Zhen, Yong Yi, 2011, Middle to Late Ordovician (Darriwilian-Sandbian) Conodonts from the Dawangou Section, Kalpin Area of the Tarim Basin, Northwestern China, Records of the Australian Museum 63 (3), pp. 203-266 : 250

Scabbardella Orchard, 1980

Type species. Drepanodus altipes Henningsmoen, 1948 .

Remarks. Orchard (1980) originally defined Scabbardella as a multielement genus consisting of three morphotypes (drepanodiform, acodiform and distacodiform), and suggested that it could be distinguished from Dapsilodus mainly by including the drepanodiform elements in the apparatus and in absence of striations on the lateral faces of elements, particularly near the anterior margin. The type species, S. altipes (Henningsmoen) was revised by Orchard (1980) as having a seximembrate apparatus, including two drepanodiform, two acodiform and two distacodiform elements differentiated mainly by the curvature of the cusp. Orchard (1980) regarded Scabbardella similaris ( Rhodes, 1953) as a junior synonym of S. altipes . However, An (1987, p. 179–180) considered them as separate species (based on curvature of the cusp and length of the base), and re-assigned to S. similaris the material from England and Wales that Orchard (1980) referred to as S. altipes . Our interpretation concurs with that of Orchard (1980).