Hallucigenia
| Hallucigenia Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Fossil holotype of Hallucigenia sparsa from the Burgess Shale | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Clade: | Panarthropoda |
| Phylum: | †Lobopodia |
| Clade: | †Hallucishaniids |
| Family: | †Hallucigeniidae |
| Genus: | †Hallucigenia Conway Morris, 1977 |
| Species | |
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Canadia sparsa | |
Hallucigenia is a genus of lobopodian known from Cambrian-aged fossils in Burgess Shale-type deposits in Canada (Burgess Shale) and China, and from isolated spines around the world. The generic name reflects the type species' unusual appearance and eccentric history of study; when it was erected as a genus, H. sparsa was reconstructed as an enigmatic animal upside down and back to front. Lobopodians are a grade of Paleozoic panarthropods from which the velvet worms, water bears, and arthropods arose.