First record of Permian conodont“jinogondolella”cf.altaduensisfrom the Midhnab Member, Khuff Formation, Saudi Arabia

A single specimen of conodont is described for the first time from outcrops of the Khuff Formation in central Saudi Arabia. The specimen was recovered from 22 samples that were located in the maximum flooding intervals of the Khuff Formation and specifically processed for conodont research. The sample originated from the maximum flooding interval located at the lower part of the Midhnab Member of the Khuff Formation, at Jabal al Murayrah in the Ad Darma’ quadrangle. The conodont occurs in reworked lithoclastic and bioclastic calcarenites, secondary sparitized, as a single broken and corroded specimen, which belongs to the genus Mesogondolella (Jinogondolella) and is tentatively conferred to the species “Jinogondolella” cf. altaduensis. The conodont is associated with broken pieces of fauna including bivalves, gastropods, echinoids, brachiopods and bryozoans, as well as foraminifers and dasycladacean algae. This genus is rarely encountered in the open-marine deposits of the Tethyan platforms, where it appeared preferentially in semi-restrictive (saline) basins. A Late Capitanian age is interpreted for some species of the genus Jinogondolella in America (Texas), China and Oman, but this age interpretation is not firmly established for the Midhnab Member of the Khuff Formation. Also due to the reworked nature of the horizon that yielded this condont, the specimen is not considered to be age-indicative.