Segments of the fossil jaw of a polychaete worm were first reported from Silurian strata on the Estonian island of
Saaremaa in 1854, but they were misinterpreted as fish teeth. A year later, impressions of whole polychaete worms with poorly preserved jaws were described from Italian Tertiary deposits. Subsequently, E. Ehlers, a specialist on recent polychaetes, recorded them from the Jurassic Solenhofen Stone of Bavaria, Germany, demonstrating their affinity and proposing the generic names
Eunicites and
Lumbriconereites. Extensive studies in the late 19th century by
George J. Hinde of material from England, Wales, Canada and Sweden established a basis for the nomenclature of what he regarded as isolated components of annelid jaws; but study of them lapsed thereafter for almost 50 years. == References ==