A 17‐element conodont apparatus from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte (Upper Ordovician), South Africa

Natural assemblages of a new conodont taxon, Notiodella keblon , from the Upper Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte of South Africa contain 17 elements. This is the first time that a 17‐element apparatus plan has been unequivocally demonstrated in conodonts. The apparatus comprises paired P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , M, S 1 , S 2 , S 3 and S 4 elements and an unpaired, axial S 0 element and provides a new template for use in the reconstruction of apparatuses from the collections of dispersed elements, particularly for those with icrion‐bearing P 1 elements and perhaps for other balognathids.