The species Idiognathodus simulator made its first appearance during the Gzhelian, the youngest age of the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous).
Two species (Idiognathodus toretzianus and Idiognathodus sagittatus) are amongst the three conodonts forming the biozones of the Kasimovian, the third stage in the Pennsylvanian.
One species (Idiognathodus sinuosus) is an index fossil of a biozone of the Bashkirian, the oldest age of the Pennsylvanian, amongst six biozones based on conodonts.
^Conodonts from the Fort Scott Limestone of Missouri. Frank H. Gunnell, Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Sep. 1931), pages 244-252 (Stable URL)
^Visean–Moscovian conodont biostratigraphy of the Ko-yama Limestone Group, Akiyoshi Belt, SW Japan. Keisuke Ishida, Sigeyuki Suzuki and Noriyuki Inada, Natural Science Research, Univ. Tokushima, 2013, volume 27 (3), pages 29–52
^ abMoscovian conodonts from the Nevandi River Valley (Cantabrian Zone, North Spain). C.A. Méndez, Trabajos de Geología, 2012, volume 32, pages 63–75
^ abGeometric morphometric analysis and taxonomic revision of the Gzhelian (Late Pennsylvanian) conodont Idiognathodus simulator from North America. Nicholas J. Hogancamp, James E. Barrick and Richard E. Strauss, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 2016 (in press), doi:10.4202/app.00198.2015