570 vanished lives

54Mesozoic

Microraptor was a small feathered theropod from Early Cretaceous China. Long feathers on both forelimbs and hind limbs created several aerodynamic surfaces.

55Mesozoic

Yi qi was a small Jurassic theropod with feathers and preserved traces of a wing membrane. A rod-like element extending from the wrist made its wing unlike a modern bird's.

56Mesozoic

Pteranodon was a toothless pterosaur above the Late Cretaceous seas of North America. It was a flying reptile, not a bird or a dinosaur.

57Mesozoic

Elasmosaurus platyurus was a long-necked marine reptile from Late Cretaceous Kansas. A 2013 reassessment counted 72 preserved neck vertebrae in its holotype.

58Mesozoic

A streamlined reptile converged on the body plan of dolphins while retaining enormous eyes.

59Mesozoic

Liopleurodon was a Jurassic pliosaur: a marine reptile with a large skull, short neck and four flippers. Its teeth and bones should be distinguished from television size reconstructions.

85Mesozoic

One of the earliest large dinosaurs was a lightly built two-legged predator.

86Mesozoic

A crocodile-like snout and huge thumb claw equipped this theropod to catch fish and other prey.

87Mesozoic

A deep parrot-like beak helped this early horned dinosaur process plants; this record distinguishes P. mongoliensis from other specimens of the genus.

88Mesozoic

A broad duck bill and dense dental batteries processed huge amounts of vegetation.

89Mesozoic

A long-necked coastal reptile paddled through shallow Triassic seas.

90Mesozoic

A massive pliosaur skull powered attacks on large marine prey.

91Mesozoic

A giant pterosaur with a robust neck stalked an island populated by dwarf dinosaurs.

106Mesozoic

A handful of colossal vertebrae and limb bones indicate one of the largest land animals known.

107Mesozoic

This huge, robust dromaeosaur used strength and a curved second-toe claw to control prey.

108Mesozoic

Huge arms, a broad bill, a tall back and wide feet formed one of the strangest dinosaur silhouettes.

109Mesozoic

Two rows of elongated neck spines made its profile unique, though their soft-tissue covering remains debated.

110Mesozoic

This long-snouted armored crocodyliform was not a direct ancestor of living crocodiles.

128Mesozoic

Flower-like reproductive organs nestled among cycad-like leaves, but this bennettitalean was not a flowering plant.

129Mesozoic

Long leaves divided into broad segments formed part of the cycadophyte layer beneath Jurassic trees.

130Mesozoic

What looked like one trunk was a false stem woven from many small axes and adventitious roots.

131Mesozoic

Elongated aquatic stems bore petal-less reproductive structures important to debates about early flowering plants.

132Mesozoic

Curved cupules containing ovules hung beneath compound leaves in this puzzling seed plant.

139Mesozoic

This roughly fifteen-meter ichthyosaur had a long narrow snout and four flippers.