ʻConodont pearlsʼ do not belong to conodonts

We investigated the mineralogical and chemical signatures of enigmatic microspherules commonly recovered in conodont residues and referred to in literature as ‘conodont pearls.’ Comparison between these ‘pearls,’ associated conodonts and other phosphatic skeletal elements present in the same stratigraphical level was run in an effort to reveal any possible relation between ‘conodont pearls’ and the joined groups so to finally provide a response on the affinity of these spherules.