570 vanished lives

169Paleozoic

A tiny head joined a barrel-shaped giant body whose broad ribs enclosed a vast plant-fermenting digestive system.

170Mesozoic

Thirteen extremely elongated vertebrae formed a neck as long as half the body, while the skull snapped at fish and cephalopods.

171Mesozoic

A lightly built one-meter animal ran on two legs with both sharp and leaf-shaped teeth in its jaws.

172Mesozoic

Each tiny forearm ended in one stout main claw, perhaps used to tear open insect nests like a modern anteater.

173Mesozoic

Needle teeth lined long jaws while a diamond-shaped membrane at the stiff tail tip helped control flight above island seas.

174Mesozoic

This giant bony fish opened a broad mouth and strained plankton through dense gill rakers, much like a whale shark.

175Mesozoic

A short deep skull carried serrated blades, while this marine crocodile's body had transformed into four flippers and a fishlike tail.

176Cenozoic

Strong limbs could still bear weight, yet long feet paddled through water and the ear region was adapting to underwater sound.

177Cenozoic

Bundles of enamel-wrapped tooth columns and broad limbs helped it crop aquatic plants in tidal flats and shallow water.

178Cenozoic

Rear-shifted nostrils and four tusks document a distinctive skull; a short trunk is a soft-tissue reconstruction inferred from the bones.

179Cenozoic

This rhinoceros-sized marsupial clipped plants with two forward incisors and moved between seasonal water sources.

180Cenozoic

This two-meter flightless bird had a deep jaw and powerful legs, probably feeding on soft leaves, fruit and shoots.

181Paleozoic

A patterned wing only about two centimeters across pushes the secure record of insect flight into the Early Carboniferous.

182Paleozoic

Beyond four wings packed with netlike veins, the thorax carried a pair of small immobile winglets.

183Paleozoic

Scaling from the surviving giant wing suggests a four-winged span near half a meter, among the largest palaeodictyopterans known.

184Paleozoic

The largest estimates reach a 71-centimeter wingspan, placing it among the biggest flying insects in Earth history.

185Paleozoic

Banded dark patterns remain on its fossil wings, returning color pattern to a Permian insect rather than a blank outline.

186Paleozoic

A wing resembling that of a crane fly was once treated as an early dipteran clue, but its true affinity remains disputed.

187Mesozoic

Four broad, densely veined wings carried this stem dragonfly on patrol above Jurassic lakeshores.

188Mesozoic

The male forewing preserves its file finely enough for researchers to reconstruct a pure call near 6.4 kilohertz.

189Mesozoic

Huge eyespots, broad wings and an elongate mouthpart created a butterfly-like insect before butterflies flourished.

190Mesozoic

Scaling from the surviving wing fragment suggests a wing as long as 16 centimeters, among the largest lacewings known.

191Mesozoic

Four lobed wings nearly match ginkgoalean leaves from the same bed, rare evidence of deep-time leaf mimicry.

192Mesozoic

About 17 millimeters long and unable to jump, it carried serrated piercing mouthparts far larger than those of modern fleas.