313Mesozoic
Baculites
Baculites compressus
Its adult shell stretched into a near-straight rod while retaining ammonite sutures.
LIFE ARCHIVE
570 vanished lives
Browse extinct life from traces nearly 1.9 billion years old to historically recorded extinctions.
Explore geological time
Paleozoic
- Cambrian538.8–486.85 million years ago34 records ↗
- Ordovician486.85–443.1 million years ago12 records ↗
- Silurian443.1–419.62 million years ago14 records ↗
- Devonian419.62–358.86 million years ago41 records ↗
- Carboniferous358.86–298.9 million years ago60 records ↗
- Permian298.9–251.902 million years ago51 records ↗
Geography
Explore the atlas by continent, country and state. Follow fossil localities into regional guides, compare animals across time and return to the evidence in each species profile.
Dinosaurs by continent
Countries and states
- Dinosaurs of the United States13 atlas records ↗
- Dinosaurs of Canada7 atlas records ↗
- Dinosaurs of the United Kingdom5 atlas records ↗
- Dinosaurs Found in Texas1 atlas records ↗
- Dinosaurs Found in Montana4 atlas records ↗
- Dinosaurs Found in Argentina11 atlas records ↗
- Dinosaurs Found in China10 atlas records ↗
FIELD GUIDES
Field guides
Giants, strange body plans and lives within human memory. Follow a question into the atlas, then explore the animals behind it.
314Mesozoic
Tusoteuthis
Tusoteuthis longa
A huge internal shell identifies a large coleoidean, though total length remains uncertain.
315Mesozoic
Scaphites
Scaphites nodosus
The juvenile shell coiled tightly before the adult chamber uncoiled and hooked back.
316Mesozoic
Onchopristis
Onchopristis numidus
Barbed teeth armed a long rostrum used to sense and sweep through bottom prey.
317Mesozoic
Xiphactinus
Xiphactinus audax
Its huge upturned mouth could swallow fish nearly half its own length.
318Mesozoic
Enchodus
Enchodus petrosus
Oversized palatine fangs made a modest fish into a formidable midwater hunter.
319Cenozoic
Diplomystus
Diplomystus dentatus
Schools of herring-like fish were sealed into fine lake sediments.
320Paleozoic
Materpiscis
Materpiscis attenboroughi
An embryo with an umbilical connection records some of the earliest live birth.
321Paleozoic
Titanichthys
Titanichthys agassizi
This giant placoderm lacked sharp jaw blades and may have filtered plankton.
322Mesozoic
Ptychodus
Ptychodus mortoni
Broad crushing teeth paved its mouth for ammonites and shellfish.
323Mesozoic
Gerrothorax
Gerrothorax pulcherrimus
A shovel-flat skull may have opened by lifting the upper jaw.
324Mesozoic
Metoposaurus
Metoposaurus diagnosticus
A broad flat head occupied nearly the full width of its front body.
325Paleozoic
Crassigyrinus
Crassigyrinus scoticus
Tiny limbs and strong jaws show an early tetrapod returning almost completely to water.
326Mesozoic
Henodus
Henodus chelyops
A turtle-like shell protected a placodont with a broad filtering or scraping mouth.
327Mesozoic
Placodus
Placodus gigas
Chisel incisors and crushing palatal teeth formed a shell-opening toolkit.
328Mesozoic
Atopodentatus
Atopodentatus unicus
A hammer-shaped snout scraped algae before needle teeth filtered the fragments.
329Mesozoic
Halszkaraptor
Halszkaraptor escuilliei
A long neck, dense teeth and paddle-like arms suggest a semiaquatic raptor.
330Mesozoic
Masiakasaurus
Masiakasaurus knopfleri
Forward-projecting front teeth may have hooked small slippery prey.
331Mesozoic
Jakapil
Jakapil kaniukura
A small plant eater combined low armor with an unusually deep jaw.
332Mesozoic
Epidexipteryx
Epidexipteryx hui
Four long tail feathers displayed rather than powering flight.
333Mesozoic
Darwinopterus
Darwinopterus modularis
A long tail and advanced skull combine features once separated between pterosaur groups.
334Mesozoic
Tupandactylus
Tupandactylus imperator
Most of its enormous head crest was soft tissue used as a visual signal.
335Cenozoic
Teratornis
Teratornis merriami
Its near-condor wings paired with feet and a bill suited to taking live prey.
336Mesozoic
Vegavis
Vegavis iaai
A waterbird close to ducks lived before the non-avian dinosaurs vanished.