its thought that the claws on the Hallusigenia sparsa, because they are curved, were more for climbing and hanging onto benthic organisms or algae, instead of walking in mud.
They are more than likely mobile. The "spikes" are called sclerites and in this species in the video (Hallucigenia sparsa) it is believed they are for defense. The Hallusigenia hongmeia's sclerites are much shorter and cone shaped but are made of a net like structure(25 micron holes).
Its still not known for the Hallucigenia sparsa which was its anterior-posterior direction due to bad preservation of soft parts
This is the entire animal seeing we find multiple like it in the Burgess Shale.
I have about hallucigenia at school!! I want to writhe about it, because it is so funny!!! :-D They dont now wath who is opp, and wath who is down at it:-D
@simonsonjh If it was mobile, the larger part of its body would be susceptible to predation due to the length of its legs. This would discount any benefit of the protective "spines" on its back. However, if these legs were buried in the seasand, the spine-covered main body would be completely protected by the protrusive defenses of the spines.
@philagon I see there has been several hypotheses about the life-style of Hallucigenia, with you ideas fitting in as well as any of them. I'd buy a set of models.
find it more likely that this creature was sedentary, with the "legs" rooted into the seafloor or that the entire organism is a severred appendage from a lqrger animal.
No, Hallucigenia was almost certainly not sedentary, because its walking legs and raptorial proboscis clearly point to a mobile predator. Furthermore, it is clearly not a fragment of another animal. We know several complete fossils, and they belong to the lobopodian grade of stem group arthropods. In this group there are no sedentary animals. Hallucigenia walked like the related recent Onychophora.
the Hallusigenia hongmeias' net structured sclerites are thought to be tons of sensory or secretory papillae on them also.
flareside259 1 week ago
its thought that the claws on the Hallusigenia sparsa, because they are curved, were more for climbing and hanging onto benthic organisms or algae, instead of walking in mud.
flareside259 1 week ago
@flareside259 Hallusigenia hongmeia not sparsa
flareside259 1 week ago
They are more than likely mobile. The "spikes" are called sclerites and in this species in the video (Hallucigenia sparsa) it is believed they are for defense. The Hallusigenia hongmeia's sclerites are much shorter and cone shaped but are made of a net like structure(25 micron holes).
Its still not known for the Hallucigenia sparsa which was its anterior-posterior direction due to bad preservation of soft parts
This is the entire animal seeing we find multiple like it in the Burgess Shale.
flareside259 1 week ago
I have about hallucigenia at school!! I want to writhe about it, because it is so funny!!! :-D They dont now wath who is opp, and wath who is down at it:-D
TheDilla12 5 months ago
thats sick is this real or cgi?
BloodScorchedSun 9 months ago
@BloodScorchedSun Those animals have been extinct for about 500 million years. Way before cameras existed.
simonsonjh 9 months ago
@simonsonjh thats what I thought I was confused by the museum part Im guessing a display thing?
BloodScorchedSun 9 months ago
Comment removed
ariyakantasila 1 year ago
at any rate, someone needs to create scale plastic models of the burgess shale fauna! What a great coffee table piece any of those would make!
philagon 1 year ago
@simonsonjh If it was mobile, the larger part of its body would be susceptible to predation due to the length of its legs. This would discount any benefit of the protective "spines" on its back. However, if these legs were buried in the seasand, the spine-covered main body would be completely protected by the protrusive defenses of the spines.
philagon 1 year ago
@philagon I see there has been several hypotheses about the life-style of Hallucigenia, with you ideas fitting in as well as any of them. I'd buy a set of models.
simonsonjh 1 year ago
@philagon What if it was only mobile a few times during it's lifetime? Perhaps for mating or migration? Or to find new sources of food?
srmatto 1 year ago
find it more likely that this creature was sedentary, with the "legs" rooted into the seafloor or that the entire organism is a severred appendage from a lqrger animal.
philagon 1 year ago
@philagon Yes, I could indeed have been sedentary. I'm not sure what the latest thinking is about this animal.
simonsonjh 1 year ago
@philagon
No, Hallucigenia was almost certainly not sedentary, because its walking legs and raptorial proboscis clearly point to a mobile predator. Furthermore, it is clearly not a fragment of another animal. We know several complete fossils, and they belong to the lobopodian grade of stem group arthropods. In this group there are no sedentary animals. Hallucigenia walked like the related recent Onychophora.
GuenterBechly 6 months ago