Polychaete Hypothesis

polychaete hypothesis, theory that conodonts (minute toothlike structures found as fossils in marine rocks) are parts of the jaw apparatus of polychaete worms, a class of the annelid, or segmented, worms. Conodonts resemble the jaws (scolecodonts) of polychaete worms in form, and they are found in left and right pairs, as are scolecodonts. Polychaete teeth are known as early as the Ordovician period (about 505 million to 438 million years ago), but conodonts have their first undisputed occurrence earlier, in the Late Cambrian epoch (about 523 million to 505 million years ago). Arguments against the conodont–polychaete relationship include the fact that scolecodonts change little with time, whereas conodonts exhibit great variation and evolution over time. Scolecodonts are composed of chitin, a resistant, horny material similar to fingernails in composition. Conodonts, however, are composed of calcium phosphate, as in the skeletons of vertebrates. Some unknown group of polychaetes may have been able to secrete structures of calcium phosphate, but the large differences in manner of growth between conodonts and polychaete jaws constitute a convincing argument against the polychaete hypothesis.