Hallucigenia
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| phylum | Chordata | Hallucigenia is a genus of Cambrian animals known from articulated fossils in Burgess Shale-type deposits in Canada and China, and from isolated spines around the world. Its quirky name reflects its unusual appearance and eccentric history of study; when it was erected as a genus, the animal was reconstructed upside down and back to front. Hallucigenia is now recognized as a "lobopodian worm". It is considered by some to represent an early ancestor of the living velvet worms, although other researchers favour a relationship closer to arthropods. Hallucigenia is a 0.5—3.5 cm long tubular organism with seven or eight pairs of slender legs, each terminating with a pair of claws. Above each leg is a rigid conical spine. The 'head' and 'tail' end of the organism are difficult to identify; one end extends some distance beyond the legs and often droops down as if to reach the floor.
For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry. Get back to Onychophora |
| stem group | Onychophora | |
| family | Hallucigeniidae | |
| genus | Hallucigenia | |
| species | H. sparsa | |
| Period | Middle Cambrian |
