All the "Kimberella" fossils found so far are assigned to one species, "K. quadrata". The first specimens were discovered in Australia in 1959. They were originally classified as jellyfish by Martin Glaessner and Mary Wade in 1966, and then as box jellyfish by Wade in 1972, a view that remained popular until the fossils of the White sea region were discovered; these prompted a reinterpretation. Research on these specimens by Mikhail A. Fedonkin, initially with Benjamin M. Waggoner in 1997, led to "Kimberella" being recognised as the oldest well-documented triploblastic bilaterian organism — not a jellyfish at all.