Hallucigenia drawing by Meg Hallucigenia fossil photograph by the Smithsonian Institution Hallucigenia picture by the Smithsonian Institution

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Hallucigenia drawing by Meg
Hallucigenia drawing by Meg
Hallucigenia Sparsa was first thought to belong to a new phyla and that it walked on its spines, but it was realised at a later date that this reconstruction was upside down and it had the spines on the dorsal side for protection.

There has also been some speculation that the fossils were actually just a part of another, larger animal but the discovery of 18 fossil hallucigenia apparently scavenging on the carcass of another creature seems to rule this out. It is now classified as a lobopod and so related to creatures such as Aysheaia.

Image source Wikipedia Smithsonian