570 vanished lives

382Mesozoic

A long forehead horn opposed upward-curving mandibles.

383Mesozoic

An elongated prothorax gave this aculeate relative a neck-like outline.

384Mesozoic

Wingless females combined a wasp waist with enlarged jumping hind legs.

385Mesozoic

A long neck and grasping forelegs converged on the mantis body plan.

386Mesozoic

Short leathery forewings covered folded membranous hindwings.

387Mesozoic

Six extremely long legs may have spread its weight across the water surface.

388Mesozoic

A long siphon accessed sugary secretions before flowers evolved.

389Mesozoic

It resembled a giant primitive flea but may not be a direct flea ancestor.

390Paleozoic

Broad net-veined wings carried an early aerial predator through oxygen-rich forests.

391Paleozoic

Huge triangular wings and long tail filaments belonged to a giant mayfly relative.

392Paleozoic

Thoracic winglets accompanied four large wings in an extinct flight architecture.

393Paleozoic

A shield-like pronotum and flat wings mark an early cockroach-mantis relative.

394Paleozoic

An enlarged prothorax carried a row of prominent spines.

395Paleozoic

Its wing venation pushes the cockroach-like pattern deep into the Carboniferous.

396Mesozoic

Raptorial forelegs and three tail filaments formed a lost mayfly body plan.

397Mesozoic

Large wings and robust mouthparts belonged to the spectacular titanopterans.

398Mesozoic

Pollen on the legs and body records an early pollination relationship.

425Paleozoic

A wingspan near half a meter made it a major aerial predator.

426Paleozoic

Leaf-like thoracic lobes accompanied four functional wings.

427Mesozoic

Once imagined as a parasite, it was later shown to have an aquatic juvenile stage.

428Mesozoic

An abdominal light organ pushes beetle bioluminescence into the dinosaur age.

482Paleozoic

Smaller than Meganeura but still broad-winged, this griffinfly hunted above coal forests.

483Paleozoic

A long piercing mouthpart and four patterned wings belonged to the vanished palaeodictyopterans.

506Paleozoic

Four broad net-veined wings belonged to the completely vanished palaeodictyopterans.