Hardistiella montanensis

Hardistiella is the oldest known lamprey. Lampreys are jawless vertebrates that lack, primitively, any sort of bone or teeth. Modern lampreys have two different life styles. Most are filter feeders, but some have an adult stage in which they predate upon fish by means of sharp cornified rasping projections upon a “tongue”. The Bear Gulch lamprey shows no evidence of rasping structures, but we do not know whether they are mature or not.

References:

• Janvier, P., and R. Lund, 1983. "Hardistiella montanensis N. Gen. et sp. (Petromyzontida) from the Lower Carboniferous of Montana, with remarks on the affinities of the lampreys." J. Vert. Paleo. 2: 407-413.
• Janvier, P., R. Lund, and E. Grogan. 2004. "Further consideration of the earliest known lamprey, Hardistiella montanensis Janvier and Lund, 1983. from the Carboniferous of Bear Gulch, Montana, U.S.A." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(3): 742-743.

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