Moving legs: A workflow on how to generate a flexible endopod of the 518 million‐year‐old Chengjiang arthropod Ercaicunia multinodosa using 3D ‐kinematics (Cambrian, China)

A groundbreaking reconstruction of limb movement in the 518-million-year-old arthropod Ercaicunia multinodosa from China’s Chengjiang Fossil Site reveals how its endopods could have flexed inward, offering new insights into early arthropod locomotion. Unlike prior two-dimensional analyses, this study leverages high-resolution micro-CT scanning to capture the fossilized limb’s three-dimensional structure, followed by 3D visualization and animation techniques. Researchers used Amira for surface modeling, SAP 3D Visual Enterprise Author for postprocessing, and Autodesk Maya with X_ROMM to simulate limb articulation, proposing multiple plausible movement patterns. This method bridges gaps in fossil morphology, enhancing our understanding of Cambrian arthropod behavior.

Schmidt, M., Liu, Y., Zhai, D., Hou, X., & Melzer, R. R. (2020). Moving legs: A workflow on how to generate a flexible endopod of the 518 million‐year‐old Chengjiang arthropod Ercaicunia multinodosa using 3D‐kinematics (Cambrian, China). Microscopy Research and Technique, 84(4), 695–704. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/jemt.23628