The documentation of cuticular micro-ornament is vital for the taxonomic assignment of palaeoscolecids – vermiform lower Palaeozoic ecdysozoans interpreted as stem-group priapulans or early diverging panarthropods. This is due to the absence of the character-rich proboscis and tail hooks in palaeoscolecid material not from Burgess Shale-type Konservat-Lagerstätten. Here, the cuticular micro-ornamentation of palaeoscolecids from the upper Silurian (Ludlow) fauna of Leintwardine (Herefordshire, England), is described using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). This material is taxonomically unstable as it was included in an effective wastebasket genus (Protoscolex) long before these imaging techniques were developed. This reveals the Leintwardine material is most closely comparable to a palaeoscolecid from the Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) of the Builth-Llandrindod inlier, Powys, Wales, and is transferred accordingly to Radnorscolex Botting et al. as Radnorscolex latus Bather. The Leintwardine fauna represents the uppermost stratigraphic occurrence of palaeoscolecids, constrained to the Saetograptus leintwardinensis Zone (lower Ludfordian), and the comparatively sparse Silurian palaeoscolecid record is subsequently discussed. It is hypothesised palaeoscolecids may have become extinct during the mid-Ludfordian Lau Event, the onset of which is recorded in the biozone immediately above the Leintwardine fauna (Bohemograptus Zone). Finally, the British palaeoscolecid fauna is summarised, including a new record from the Dapingian (Middle Ordovician) of Carmarthenshire, South Wales.

A FlyDome RTI dome and Canon EOS 5D mkiv were used to produce polynomial texture maps (PTM) using either a Canon MP-E 65 mm or a Canon EF 100 mm macro lens. Where possible, RTI imaging made use of 54 available LEDs but for close-up images using the MP-E 65 mm lens the ring of LEDs providing the highest angle of illumination were obstructed by the lens and excluded, therefore using a total of 42 images. PTMs were constructed using RelightLab (Ponchio et al. 2019).