"Odontogriphus" has become prominent in the debate that has gone on since 1990 about the evolutionary origins of molluscs, annelid worms and brachiopods. Caron, Scheltema et al. (2006) interpreted "Odontogriphus"’s feeding apparatus as a forerunner of the molluscan radula, on the grounds that: the occasional and less distinct third tooth-row looked like evidence that the animals grew replacement tooth-rows at the rear of their mouths and shed worn-out ones from the front, as happens with molluscan radulae; the isolated pairs of tooth-rows they found, not associated with body fossils but in the same relative positions as in the more complete fossils, suggested they were mounted on fairly tough surfaces, like the chitinous "belts" of modern radulae; they even found signs that discarded tooth-rows were sometimes eaten by the animals. Hence they classified both "Odontogriphus", and "Wiwaxia" with its "nearly identical" feeding apparatus, as primitive relatives of molluscs.