570 vanished lives

452Cenozoic

A skull over a meter long belonged to a dominant Miocene caiman.

492Cenozoic

Long jaws and a powerful tail let choristoderes retain a crocodile-like niche after the dinosaurs.

493Paleozoic

Needle teeth and a flattened tail mark one of the earliest amniotes to return to water.

530Paleozoic

A long neck, tail and webbed feet show an early diapsid frequently entering water.

531Mesozoic

Placochelys placodonta was an armored placodont marine reptile, not a turtle; broad teeth support a hard-prey feeding interpretation.

532Paleozoic

Long independent bony rods supported one of the earliest vertebrate gliding membranes.

533Mesozoic

An enormous deep skull sat on a relatively low body in this early archosauriform apex predator.

534Mesozoic

A long tail, paddle-like limbs and downturned snout marked a vanished marine-reptile branch.

561Mesozoic

A sickle-shaped hand claw, grasping feet and hooked tail tip formed a highly arboreal reptile.

562Mesozoic

A toothless beak, long neck and bipedal legs made this crocodile relative converge on later bird-like dinosaurs.