An upside-down reconstructionSourced
Its back spines were once mistaken for walking legs
Hallucigenia was a Cambrian animal with legs and spines on its back. A 1977 reconstruction treated the spines as walking legs and the actual legs as tentacles above, turning the animal upside down. Research in 1991 revised the interpretation, and further fossil preparation revealed hidden legs.
The seemingly strange gait reflected a mistaken orientation.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and reuse details
Hallucigenia · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-10