570 vanished lives

304Precambrian

Millimetre-wide ribbons form centimetre-scale coils in Proterozoic rocks.

305Precambrian

Cell division and branching resemble living red algae and may record early sexual reproduction.

306Paleozoic

Branching microscopic hyphae show fungi helping to build the earliest soils.

307Precambrian

Branching spherical microfossils may push the fungal record toward one billion years.

399Paleozoic

Meter-high columns towered over landscapes of otherwise low vegetation.

400Paleozoic

Tiny flask-shaped fruiting bodies inside plant tissue are among the oldest ascomycete evidence.

401Mesozoic

A millimeter-scale cap and gills show agaric mushrooms in the dinosaur era.

402Mesozoic

A slender stem and tiny cap already resembled marasmioid mushrooms.

403Mesozoic

A mineralized cap brings early agaric evidence to the southern continents.

404Cenozoic

Its pleated bell cap may have deliquesced like a modern inkcap.

405Cenozoic

A golden-brown cap retained three-dimensional gills in amber.

406Cenozoic

Radial striations remained visible across a minute translucent cap.

407Mesozoic

Hyphae surrounding a scale insect preserve a tiny Cretaceous association.

408Mesozoic

Simple club-shaped fruiting bodies show non-gilled fungi in Cretaceous forests.

409Precambrian

Repeatedly branching cell filaments push green-plant history toward one billion years.

410Precambrian

Cell partitions and internal platelets were interpreted as very ancient red-algal evidence.

411Precambrian

A lobed multicellular thallus was proposed as an early red-algal body.

412Precambrian

Long carbonaceous ribbons resemble soft algae but lack diagnostic organs.

413Paleozoic

A perforated tube once treated as an animal is now linked to a branching alga.

414Paleozoic

Simple narrow blades radiated from a common attachment.

415Paleozoic

Spiraled diamond plates formed a calcified pinecone-like body.

416Paleozoic

Whorled calcified branches surrounded a central axis like an underwater bottlebrush.

417Mesozoic

Pink calcified masses were long assigned to red algae, but their identity is being reassessed.

418Precambrian

Branching cellular filaments show complex photosynthetic life before abundant animals.