570 vanished lives

409Precambrian

Repeatedly branching cell filaments push green-plant history toward one billion years.

410Precambrian

Cell partitions and internal platelets were interpreted as very ancient red-algal evidence.

411Precambrian

A lobed multicellular thallus was proposed as an early red-algal body.

412Precambrian

Long carbonaceous ribbons resemble soft algae but lack diagnostic organs.

413Paleozoic

A perforated tube once treated as an animal is now linked to a branching alga.

414Paleozoic

Simple narrow blades radiated from a common attachment.

415Paleozoic

Spiraled diamond plates formed a calcified pinecone-like body.

416Paleozoic

Whorled calcified branches surrounded a central axis like an underwater bottlebrush.

417Mesozoic

Pink calcified masses were long assigned to red algae, but their identity is being reassessed.

418Precambrian

Branching cellular filaments show complex photosynthetic life before abundant animals.

419Paleozoic

Eight-meter leafless crowns formed one of the earliest known forests.

420Mesozoic

Columnar lycophytes formed pioneer stands after the end-Permian catastrophe.

421Mesozoic

Paired forked fronds became an emblem of Triassic southern vegetation.

422Paleozoic

Broad tongue-shaped leaves lacked the strong midrib of later glossopterids.

423Paleozoic

Firm fern-like pinnules belonged to a seed plant rather than a true fern.

424Mesozoic

Orderly lance-shaped leaves lined stems of a widespread but enigmatic plant.

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.

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

A spined bivalved shell enclosed a large-eyed swimming predator.