570 vanished lives

308Paleozoic

A flower-bud body carried five feeding and respiratory grooves.

309Paleozoic

Radiating septa inside a horn-shaped skeleton resemble a stone sun.

310Paleozoic

Linked tubes formed honeycomb chains across Paleozoic reefs.

311Paleozoic

Fine radial ribs covered rounded shells that once crowded ancient seabeds.

312Paleozoic

A broad hinge line formed stone wings that stabilized the shell on soft mud.

429Paleozoic

A two-meter filter-feeding radiodont was an early analogue of giant plankton feeders.

430Paleozoic

A horseshoe-shaped carapace and rake-like appendages made a mobile sediment sifter.

431Paleozoic

An enormous head shield covered most of this bottom-feeding radiodont.

432Paleozoic

Isoxys curvirostratus was a small arthropod with a spined carapace, stalked eyes and grasping frontal appendages.

433Paleozoic

A broad head, long genal spines and many trunk segments marked an early trilobite radiation.

436Paleozoic

A giant sea scorpion that raked soft sediment for food; a Scottish trackway suggests an animal about 1.6 m long.

484Paleozoic

Two broad valves enclosed a segmented body while antennae, limbs and a tail fan projected outside.

485Paleozoic

Its nervous, circulatory and limb anatomy makes it central to studies of early arthropod organization.

486Paleozoic

Paired fins, a funnel and tentacle-like appendages form one of the Cambrian's most puzzling swimmers.

487Paleozoic

A coiled gut lay inside a soft circular disc that may have drifted or lived near the bottom.

511Paleozoic

Scales, long spines and a small front shell combined several Cambrian body plans.

512Paleozoic

A cup-shaped body attached by a long stalk and opened through a petal-ringed top.

513Paleozoic

A spiny head shield and specialized appendages belonged near the chelicerate stem.

514Paleozoic

Large pincer-like mandibles projected beneath a bivalved shell on an early mandibulate.

515Paleozoic

A broad bivalved shell enclosed most of the body and a three-pronged tail steered it.

516Paleozoic

A tiny armored body and pincer-like front appendages suggest an early chelicerate relative.

517Paleozoic

A broad flat shield with marginal spines and a leaf-like tail formed an unusual outline.

518Paleozoic

Long frontal appendages, side flaps and tail spines record a stem-panarthropod body.

556Paleozoic

Large frontal appendages, rows of swimming flaps and an annulated soft body link lobopodians with true arthropods.