Extinct insects

83Paleozoic

This griffinfly’s wings spanned roughly seventy centimeters above Carboniferous forests.

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.

193Mesozoic

Broad pads at the tips of long legs could grip a smooth wing membrane, suggesting a possible life on pterosaurs.

194Mesozoic

Only about a centimeter long, it already folded spine-lined grasping forelegs beneath its chest.

195Mesozoic

Cycad pollen lies beside it in amber, and its jaws bear small specialized pits for transporting pollen.

196Cenozoic

Queens reached about seven centimeters long with a 16-centimeter wingspan, among the largest hymenopterans known.

197Cenozoic

A nearly complete impression preserves venation, legs, antennae and mouthparts, making it one of the finest fossil butterflies.

198Cenozoic

This robust fossil vespid combines traits recalling modern hornets and paper wasps, and may already have lived socially.

199Cenozoic

Its leaflike abdomen closely matches foliage, proving that sophisticated mimicry existed at least 47 million years ago.

200Cenozoic

Amber sealed an extinct mason-bee relative whose long hind-leg hairs show that it actively collected and transported pollen.

379Cenozoic

Tiny ear canals in the forelegs show that it heard ultrasonic calls.

380Mesozoic

Its sickle mandibles closed upward against the head instead of sideways.

381Mesozoic

A metal-reinforced head horn and rising jaws formed a specialized clamp.

382Mesozoic

A long forehead horn opposed upward-curving mandibles.

383Mesozoic

An elongated prothorax gave this aculeate relative a neck-like outline.

384Mesozoic

Wingless females combined a wasp waist with enlarged jumping hind legs.

385Mesozoic

A long neck and grasping forelegs converged on the mantis body plan.

386Mesozoic

Short leathery forewings covered folded membranous hindwings.

387Mesozoic

Six extremely long legs may have spread its weight across the water surface.

388Mesozoic

A long siphon accessed sugary secretions before flowers evolved.

389Mesozoic

It resembled a giant primitive flea but may not be a direct flea ancestor.

390Paleozoic

Broad net-veined wings carried an early aerial predator through oxygen-rich forests.

391Paleozoic

Huge triangular wings and long tail filaments belonged to a giant mayfly relative.

392Paleozoic

Thoracic winglets accompanied four large wings in an extinct flight architecture.

393Paleozoic

A shield-like pronotum and flat wings mark an early cockroach-mantis relative.

394Paleozoic

An enlarged prothorax carried a row of prominent spines.

395Paleozoic

Its wing venation pushes the cockroach-like pattern deep into the Carboniferous.

396Mesozoic

Raptorial forelegs and three tail filaments formed a lost mayfly body plan.

397Mesozoic

Large wings and robust mouthparts belonged to the spectacular titanopterans.

398Mesozoic

Pollen on the legs and body records an early pollination relationship.

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.

482Paleozoic

Smaller than Meganeura but still broad-winged, this griffinfly hunted above coal forests.

483Paleozoic

A long piercing mouthpart and four patterned wings belonged to the vanished palaeodictyopterans.

506Paleozoic

Four broad net-veined wings belonged to the completely vanished palaeodictyopterans.

507Paleozoic

A basal odonatopteran retained a more primitive wing base than modern dragonflies.

508Paleozoic

A wingless body ended in three tail filaments and combined traits of early silverfish-like insects.

509Paleozoic

Spotted wings and fine venation record Permian palaeodictyopteran diversity.

510Paleozoic

Long transparent net-veined wings record an early radiation of large flying insects.

555Paleozoic

Two pairs of net-veined wings could not fold, and some species carried thoracic winglets and piercing mouthparts.