The jaw apparatus of the Recent eunicoid polychaete Hartmaniella erecta is closely similar to those of the Mesozoic species of Palurites. It is concluded ttrat the family Hartmaniellidae originated in ttre late Palaeozoic from an ancestor close to the Paulinitidae and is qlosely related to Kielanoprionidae. The lineage shows an extremaly slow rate of evolution. Hartmaniellids have been abundant during the whole Mesozoic while its Recent representation is only a relic. Palurites jurassicus sp. n. is proposed.