Description

Middle Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
Hajoula, Lebanon
Extremely fine 60mm polychaete on squared 120mm slab.

Worm. Soft-bodied. Lagerstatten.

We think of all worms belonging to the same group but they have been quite diverse across geologic time representing more than one phylum, more than one ancestry.  Polychaete worms (aka bristle worms) belong to the Class Polychaeta and date back to the Early Cambrian.

The most commonly-found polychaete fossils are their jaws which are called scolecodonts but here’s a well-preserved body fossil.