Phyllograptus

Phyllograptus, genus of graptolites, an extinct group of small colonial marine animals related to the primitive chordates, readily distinguished by its characteristic leaflike form and structure. Various species of Phyllograptus are excellent guide, or index, fossils for Ordovician rocks and time (488.3 million to 443.7 million years ago) and allow the correlation of sometimes widely separated rock units.