Reptiles

13Mesozoic

One of the largest known flying animals stood as tall as a giraffe on the ground.

14Mesozoic

A giant marine lizard propelled by a deep tail fin patrolled Late Cretaceous seas.

39Paleozoic

A barrel-bodied herbivore carried bony armor beneath its skin.

56Mesozoic

Long wings and a toothless beak carried this pterosaur over an inland sea.

57Mesozoic

An extraordinarily long neck let this marine reptile approach prey with a small head.

58Mesozoic

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

59Mesozoic

A broad skull and four powerful flippers belonged to a leading Jurassic marine predator.

60Cenozoic

The largest known snake moved through hot tropical swamps after the dinosaurs vanished.

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.

95Cenozoic

The largest known terrestrial lizard was a giant relative of monitor lizards.

104Paleozoic

This tiny insect hunter belonged to an early generation of vertebrates freed from laying eggs in water.

110Mesozoic

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

117Recently extinct

A saddle-backed shell and long neck reached high vegetation; the last known individual died in 2012.

139Mesozoic

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

170Mesozoic

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

173Mesozoic

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

175Mesozoic

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

220Paleozoic

Nine pairs of broad, flattened ribs record an early stage in the evolution of the turtle shell.

236Mesozoic

An enormous crest rose above a short toothless beak, with soft tissue extending the bony sail still farther.

237Mesozoic

Four long flippers flew through water while a long flexible neck carried the small head toward prey.

238Mesozoic

A solid snout projected beyond the teeth as this giant mosasaur hunted fish, turtles and other reptiles.

239Mesozoic

Front flippers spanned several meters, and a leathery covering stretched over a reduced bony shell.

240Mesozoic

Huge bony eye rings supported vision under pressure and may have helped track soft prey in dim water.

268Mesozoic

A deep skull, serrated teeth and powerful hind limbs placed it atop food webs before dinosaur dominance.

269Mesozoic

Two huge backward-curving shoulder spikes reinforced rows of protective armor.

270Mesozoic

Paired forward-curving brow horns occur only in some individuals, suggesting maturity or sexual display.

281Mesozoic

Two distinct tooth shapes gave this early pterosaur its name.

282Mesozoic

A toothed beak with matching crests helped seize slippery fish near the water surface.

283Mesozoic

An enormous branching crest crowned some adults, but there is no fossil evidence for a sail between its prongs.

284Mesozoic

A vast sail-like skull crest dominated the profile of this large toothless pterosaur.

285Mesozoic

More than a thousand bristle-like lower teeth formed a filter basket.

286Mesozoic

Flippers, a downturned tail fin and reduced armor transformed a crocodile relative into a pelagic swimmer.

287Mesozoic

A skull nearly two meters long and huge teeth formed an apex-predator bite apparatus.

288Mesozoic

More than sixty neck vertebrae formed an exceptionally long neck, while gastroliths filled the abdomen.

289Mesozoic

Only a few million years after the great extinction, ichthyosaurs had already reached whale-like scale.

290Mesozoic

A reduced shell and giant front flippers made it one of the largest Cretaceous sea turtles.

326Mesozoic

A turtle-like shell protected a placodont with a broad filtering or scraping mouth.

327Mesozoic

Chisel incisors and crushing palatal teeth formed a shell-opening toolkit.

328Mesozoic

A hammer-shaped snout scraped algae before needle teeth filtered the fragments.

333Mesozoic

A long tail and advanced skull combine features once separated between pterosaur groups.

334Mesozoic

Most of its enormous head crest was soft tissue used as a visual signal.

447Mesozoic

A short square snout, leaf-shaped teeth and armor belonged to a likely plant-eating crocodyliform.

448Mesozoic

A row of exaggerated dorsal appendages has been called scales, feathers or gliding surfaces.

449Mesozoic

Its main flight membrane stretched between extraordinarily long hind legs.

450Mesozoic

A complete shell coexisted with neck spikes and an inability to retract the head.

451Cenozoic

A shell nearly two meters long came from hot wetlands soon after the dinosaur extinction.

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

A broad shell, toothless beak and crushing plates converged strongly on turtles.

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.