--- title: Bizarre Face of Velvet Worm Ancestor Throws Scientists For a Loop description: "It looks completely surreal. It is like something from another world," Smith said of the creature's face. canonical: https://time.com/3935770/fossil-worm-face-rear/ author: Katy Osborn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-25T16:56:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:48.882Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Have Finally Figured What the Face of This Velvet Worm Ancestor Looks Like—It's Weird og:description: The 508-million-year-old specimens were uncovered in a Canadian fossil field. og:url: https://time.com/3935770/fossil-worm-face-rear/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f76e64a6f0ed10a/6988585f524fc0026cdf34bd/hallucigenia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4521 og:image:height: 2543 og:image:alt: Hallucigenia sparsa worm og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Have Finally Figured What the Face of This Velvet Worm Ancestor Looks Like—It's Weird twitter:description: The 508-million-year-old specimens were uncovered in a Canadian fossil field. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f76e64a6f0ed10a/6988585f524fc0026cdf34bd/hallucigenia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Have Finally Found the Face on This Fossilized Critter—And It's Weird > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Katy Osborn](https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jun 25, 2015 4:56 PM UTC  This image provided by Danielle Dufault shows a rendering of a Hallucigenia sparsa worm which lived 508 million years ago. This image provided by Danielle Dufault shows a rendering of a Hallucigenia sparsa worm which lived 508 million years ago. Danielle Dufault—AP by [Katy Osborn](https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jun 25, 2015 4:56 PM UTC Scientists studying the fossilized remains of _Hallucigenia_, a 508-million-year-old worm-like sea creature, say they finally have located the specimen’s face — and it’s not a beauty. The prehistoric crawler has a spoon-shaped head, a deck of teeth that extends all the way down the creature’s throat, and, when seen under the microscope, researchers reported, “a tiny pair of eyes” and a “really cheeky semi-circular smile.” Dr. Martin Smith of Cambridge University and Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron of the University of Toronto published their findings Wednesday in the weekly science journal [_Nature_](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nature14573.pdf)_._ “It looks completely surreal,” Smith [told](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33262884) BBC News. “It is like something from another world.” A bulging feature previously mistaken for the Hallucigenia’s head, meanwhile, has been revealed to be fluid excreted from the creature’s gut as it was fossilized. The scientists say this new information about the Hallucigenia represents one more piece toward solving the puzzle of how the Cambrian period’s unusual life forms turned into the creepy crawlies we know today. ### See 40 Stunning Images Captured Through A Microscope  Jumping spider eyes at 20x magnification. Noah Fram-Schwartz  A bed bug at 50x magnification. Stefano Barone  A mite in a forest at 10x magnification. José R. Almodóvar  Cultured embryonic chicken dorsal root ganglia neuron explant at 60x magnification. Dr. Michael John Bridge  A crawling bone cancer cell at 8000x magnification. Dr. Dylan T. Burnette  Active fluid flow around P. damicornis at 4x magnification Dr. Douglas Brumley  A Chrysochroa buqueti (jewel beetle) at 45x magnification. Charles Krebs  Focal conic-like domain with varying degrees of modulation and checkerboard patterns at 40x magnification. Dr. Rajdeep Deb  ALeptothorax acervorum (ant) carrying its larva at 5x magnification. 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Christian Gautier  Lilium anther, second division tetrads at 500x magnification. Raymond Sloss  Montana Dryhead agate at 50x magnification. Douglas L. Moore  Tripolycyanamide crystal at 100x magnification. Yanping Wang  A young starfish at 5x magnification. Steven Wilbert  A Solea sp. (fish) at 25x magnification. David Linstead  Pleurotaenium ovatum (micro algae) at 40x magnification. Rogelio Moreno Gill  A Magnesium chloride and potassium alum mixture at 25x magnification. Chao Zhang  A rhombohedral cleavage in calcite crystal at 10x magnification. Alessandro Da Mommio  Marine algae at 40x magnification. Waldo Nell  A Ceriodaphnia sp. (water flea) at 20x magnification. Rogelio Moreno Gill  A snowflake at 8x magnification. Michael Peres  A Shipworm Lyrodus pedicellatus and a wood-boring mussel at 20x magnification. Andrea Wurzinger-Mayer  Anagallis arvensis (scarlet pimpernel) at 80x magnification. Jens H. Petersen  A flower embryo at 40x magnification. Samuel Silberman  The underside of a Brown dog tick and Lonestar tick at 100x magnification. Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz  Living Micrasterias in contrast Interphako at 100 magnification. Frank Fox  Recrystallized bismuth iodide at 100x magnification. Sebastian Blaise Sparenga  A Hydra and Volvox at 10x magnification. Steven Wilbert  Appendages of a common brine shrimp at 100x magnification. Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3935770/fossil-worm-face-rear/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3935770/fossil-worm-face-rear/"},"headline":"Scientists Have Finally Found the Face on This Fossilized Critter—And It's Weird","datePublished":"2015-06-25T16:56:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:48.882Z","description":"\"It looks completely surreal. 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