570 vanished lives

83Paleozoic

This griffinfly’s wings spanned roughly seventy centimeters above Carboniferous forests.

181Paleozoic

A patterned wing only about two centimeters across pushes the secure record of insect flight into the Early Carboniferous.

182Paleozoic

Beyond four wings packed with netlike veins, the thorax carried a pair of small immobile winglets.

183Paleozoic

Scaling from the surviving giant wing suggests a four-winged span near half a meter, among the largest palaeodictyopterans known.

184Paleozoic

The largest estimates reach a 71-centimeter wingspan, placing it among the biggest flying insects in Earth history.

185Paleozoic

Banded dark patterns remain on its fossil wings, returning color pattern to a Permian insect rather than a blank outline.

186Paleozoic

A wing resembling that of a crane fly was once treated as an early dipteran clue, but its true affinity remains disputed.

187Mesozoic

Four broad, densely veined wings carried this stem dragonfly on patrol above Jurassic lakeshores.

188Mesozoic

Preserved forewing sound structures support a reconstructed musical call: 6.4 kHz in 2012 and about 5 kHz in a later model.

189Mesozoic

Huge eyespots, broad wings and an elongate mouthpart created a butterfly-like insect before butterflies flourished.

190Mesozoic

Scaling from the surviving wing fragment suggests a wing as long as 16 centimeters, among the largest lacewings known.

191Mesozoic

Four lobed wings nearly match ginkgoalean leaves from the same bed, rare evidence of deep-time leaf mimicry.

192Mesozoic

About 17 millimeters long and unable to jump, it carried serrated piercing mouthparts far larger than those of modern fleas.

193Mesozoic

Broad pads at the tips of long legs could grip a smooth wing membrane, suggesting a possible life on pterosaurs.

194Mesozoic

Only about a centimeter long, it already folded spine-lined grasping forelegs beneath its chest.

195Mesozoic

Cycad pollen lies beside it in amber, and its jaws bear small specialized pits for transporting pollen.

196Cenozoic

Queens reached about seven centimeters long with a 16-centimeter wingspan, among the largest hymenopterans known.

197Cenozoic

A nearly complete impression preserves venation, legs, antennae and mouthparts, making it one of the finest fossil butterflies.

198Cenozoic

This robust fossil vespid combines traits recalling modern hornets and paper wasps, and may already have lived socially.

199Cenozoic

Its leaflike abdomen closely matches foliage, proving that sophisticated mimicry existed at least 47 million years ago.

200Cenozoic

Amber sealed an extinct mason-bee relative whose long hind-leg hairs show that it actively collected and transported pollen.

379Cenozoic

Tiny ear canals in the forelegs show that it heard ultrasonic calls.

380Mesozoic

Its sickle mandibles closed upward against the head instead of sideways.

381Mesozoic

A metal-reinforced head horn and rising jaws formed a specialized clamp.