570 vanished lives

323Mesozoic

A shovel-flat skull may have opened by lifting the upper jaw.

324Mesozoic

A broad flat head occupied nearly the full width of its front body.

351Mesozoic

A broad skull and massive body made it one of the largest known frogs.

352Mesozoic

A giant amphibian still occupied cold rivers where crocodyliforms were uncommon.

353Mesozoic

Two lower-jaw tusks passed through openings in the palate when the mouth closed.

354Mesozoic

It had a broad head and shortened trunk but lacked the full jumping machinery of modern frogs.

356Mesozoic

The adult tail was gone, but the trunk remained more primitive than in modern frogs.

357Mesozoic

A broad head, short trunk and long tail show the salamander plan already well established.

369Mesozoic

Its semicircular skull was extraordinarily broad and flat.

370Mesozoic

A giant temnospondyl still occupied river ambush niches in the dinosaur era.

372Mesozoic

A narrow snout was built to snap at fish in water.

374Mesozoic

It had a caecilian-like body but still retained four tiny legs.

375Mesozoic

A skull more than two meters long belonged to one of the largest freshwater amphibian predators.

377Mesozoic

A near-complete skeleton reveals the full proportions of a giant Triassic amphibian.

444Mesozoic

Closed otic notches and a broad flat skull marked a giant aquatic ambush predator.

445Mesozoic

A broad half-meter skull carried grooves that sensed water movement.

525Mesozoic

An extremely narrow snout gave this temnospondyl a gharial-like profile on an amphibian skeleton.

528Mesozoic

A narrow sensory-grooved snout suited an open-water temnospondyl.