Mesozoic

05Mesozoic

A deep skull, bone-crushing bite and keen senses made it one of the last giant theropods.

06Mesozoic

Three horns and a broad frill formed a formidable display and defense system.

07Mesozoic

Tall back plates and a four-spiked tail made this low-browsing herbivore unmistakable.

08Mesozoic

This turkey-sized feathered predator carried a raised sickle claw on each foot.

09Mesozoic

A sail-backed predator with dense bones and a paddle-like tail, adapted to life around water.

10Mesozoic

Body armor and a heavy tail club turned a plant-eater into a walking fortress.

11Mesozoic

Its long hollow crest may have carried low calls across forests and floodplains.

12Mesozoic

Feathers, wings, teeth and a long bony tail capture a mosaic of dinosaur and bird traits.

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.

40Mesozoic

A lightweight skull and serrated teeth equipped this large predator for repeated slashing bites.

41Mesozoic

Long forelimbs lifted its shoulders and neck toward the Jurassic canopy.

42Mesozoic

A whip-like tail balanced an extremely long neck on this lightly built giant.

43Mesozoic

Brow horns, a deep skull and extremely reduced arms marked this fast abelisaurid.

44Mesozoic

A giant narrow-skulled theropod shared its world with immense sauropods.

45Mesozoic

A stiff tail, grasping hands and enlarged foot claw made an agile feathered hunter.

46Mesozoic

The supposed egg thief was found above a nest that probably contained its own young.

47Mesozoic

Meter-long hand claws belonged to a tall, feathered, pot-bellied herbivore.

48Mesozoic

A thick dome of bone crowned the skull of this two-legged herbivore.

49Mesozoic

A conical thumb spike and batteries of chewing teeth equipped this adaptable herbivore.

50Mesozoic

This sheep-sized horned dinosaur carried a deep beak and broad neck frill.

51Mesozoic

A slender, hollow-boned hunter was among the early successful dinosaurs.

52Mesozoic

This early long-necked herbivore could rear upright but mainly walked on two legs.

53Mesozoic

Paired head crests advertised this agile predator; there is no evidence for venom or a neck frill.

54Mesozoic

Long flight feathers on all four limbs formed a remarkable aerial surface.

55Mesozoic

Membranous wings supported by long fingers and a rod-like styliform element projecting from the wrist differed from the feathered wings of birds.

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.

85Mesozoic

One of the earliest large dinosaurs was a lightly built two-legged predator.

86Mesozoic

A crocodile-like snout and huge thumb claw equipped this theropod to catch fish and other prey.

87Mesozoic

A deep parrot-like beak helped this early horned dinosaur process plants; this record distinguishes P. mongoliensis from other specimens of the genus.

88Mesozoic

A broad duck bill and dense dental batteries processed huge amounts of vegetation.

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.

106Mesozoic

A handful of colossal vertebrae and limb bones indicate one of the largest land animals known.

107Mesozoic

This huge, robust dromaeosaur used strength and a curved second-toe claw to control prey.

108Mesozoic

Huge arms, a broad bill, a tall back and wide feet formed one of the strangest dinosaur silhouettes.

109Mesozoic

Two rows of elongated neck spines made its profile unique, though their soft-tissue covering remains debated.

110Mesozoic

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

128Mesozoic

Flower-like reproductive organs nestled among cycad-like leaves, but this bennettitalean was not a flowering plant.

129Mesozoic

Long leaves divided into broad segments formed part of the cycadophyte layer beneath Jurassic trees.

130Mesozoic

What looked like one trunk was a false stem woven from many small axes and adventitious roots.

131Mesozoic

Elongated aquatic stems bore petal-less reproductive structures important to debates about early flowering plants.

132Mesozoic

Curved cupules containing ovules hung beneath compound leaves in this puzzling seed plant.

139Mesozoic

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

151Mesozoic

Several separate woody columns occupied one stem beneath clusters of long leaves and unusual male and female organs.

152Mesozoic

A stout barrel-shaped trunk held a pinnate crown and many flower-like bisexual reproductive structures among old leaf bases.

153Mesozoic

Finely pinnate fronds carpeted Jurassic understories, each toothed leaflet crossed by repeatedly branching veins.

155Mesozoic

Tall conifers bore nearly spherical cones whose internal scales and ovules were silicified by volcanic landscapes.

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.

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.

221Mesozoic

This lightly built two-meter hunter represents an early branch from the first dinosaur diversification.

222Mesozoic

A long neck, small head and grasping hands mark a stage between bipedal ancestors and giant quadrupedal sauropods.

223Mesozoic

A curved transverse crest across its skull gives this large Antarctic theropod an unmistakable profile.

224Mesozoic

Tall neural spines along the neck and back supported a muscular ridge rather than a paper-thin sail.

225Mesozoic

Two very tall vertebrae ahead of the hips formed a short steep back crest, while the forearm carried unusual knobs.

226Mesozoic

A short deep skull carried a rounded horn, while tooth marks on its own species provide rare scavenging evidence.

227Mesozoic

A huge nasal horn and long spikes radiating from the frill made one of the most dramatic ceratopsian heads.

228Mesozoic

Fifteen horn-like ornaments across the nose, brows and broad frill formed a folded crown around the skull.

229Mesozoic

Plates covered the front body while long paired spikes armed the hips and tail, concentrating defense behind it.

230Mesozoic

Nineteen elongated neck vertebrae placed nearly half the body's length in the neck, lightened internally by air spaces.

231Mesozoic

Simple filamentous feathers and tail color bands made it the first dinosaur restored with evidence-based coloration.

232Mesozoic

Orderly vaned feathers covered its arms and short tail, but symmetric feathers and body proportions prevented powered flight.

233Mesozoic

A toothless beak, clawed wings and—in some individuals—two long ribbon-like tail feathers appeared together.

234Mesozoic

Its wings shrank to small bones while rear-set legs turned it into a superb Mesozoic pursuit diver.

235Mesozoic

Its body and flight resembled a tern, but a row of true teeth remained inside the long jaws.

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.

266Mesozoic

A whiskered snout, differentiated teeth and burrowing life approach the mammalian body plan.

267Mesozoic

A dog-like snout, slicing cheek teeth and upright hind limbs made it a major cynodont predator.

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.

271Mesozoic

A nasal horn, brow ridges and small midline osteoderms made this predator unmistakable.

272Mesozoic

A huge skull and unusually powerful three-fingered arms marked one of the largest megalosaurids.

273Mesozoic

The first formally named non-avian dinosaur later became a wastebasket for unrelated theropod bones.

274Mesozoic

Tall neural spines supported a sail, ridge or fatty hump whose soft-tissue shape remains uncertain.

275Mesozoic

A solid spike-like crest projected behind the skull and probably carried a strong visual signal.

276Mesozoic

A helmet-shaped hollow crest contained looping nasal passages that could shape resonant calls.

277Mesozoic

Its hatchet-shaped hollow crest changed dramatically as the animal matured.

278Mesozoic

A massive nasal boss replaced the long horn seen in many ceratopsians.

279Mesozoic

Long shoulder spikes and dense armor protected one of the largest nodosaurids.

280Mesozoic

Small bony plates embedded in the skin showed that some titanosaurs carried armor.

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.

313Mesozoic

Its adult shell stretched into a near-straight rod while retaining ammonite sutures.

314Mesozoic

A huge internal shell identifies a large coleoidean, though total length remains uncertain.

315Mesozoic

The juvenile shell coiled tightly before the adult chamber uncoiled and hooked back.

316Mesozoic

Barbed teeth armed a long rostrum used to sense and sweep through bottom prey.

317Mesozoic

Its huge upturned mouth could swallow fish nearly half its own length.

318Mesozoic

Oversized palatine fangs made a modest fish into a formidable midwater hunter.

322Mesozoic

Broad crushing teeth paved its mouth for ammonites and shellfish.

323Mesozoic

A shovel-flat skull may have opened by lifting the upper jaw.

324Mesozoic

A broad flat head occupied nearly the full width of its front body.

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.

329Mesozoic

A long neck, dense teeth and paddle-like arms suggest a semiaquatic raptor.

330Mesozoic

Forward-projecting front teeth may have hooked small slippery prey.

331Mesozoic

A small plant eater combined low armor with an unusually deep jaw.

332Mesozoic

Four long tail feathers displayed rather than powering flight.

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.

336Mesozoic

A waterbird close to ducks lived before the non-avian dinosaurs vanished.

349Mesozoic

Four net-veined leaflets belonged to a seed fern rather than a true fern.

350Mesozoic

Silica replaced fallen trunks to create today's multicolored petrified forest.

351Mesozoic

A broad skull and massive body made it one of the largest known frogs.

352Mesozoic

A giant amphibian still occupied cold rivers where crocodyliforms were uncommon.

353Mesozoic

Two lower-jaw tusks passed through openings in the palate when the mouth closed.

354Mesozoic

It had a broad head and shortened trunk but lacked the full jumping machinery of modern frogs.

356Mesozoic

The adult tail was gone, but the trunk remained more primitive than in modern frogs.

357Mesozoic

A broad head, short trunk and long tail show the salamander plan already well established.

369Mesozoic

Its semicircular skull was extraordinarily broad and flat.

370Mesozoic

A giant temnospondyl still occupied river ambush niches in the dinosaur era.

372Mesozoic

A narrow snout was built to snap at fish in water.

374Mesozoic

It had a caecilian-like body but still retained four tiny legs.

375Mesozoic

A skull more than two meters long belonged to one of the largest freshwater amphibian predators.

377Mesozoic

A near-complete skeleton reveals the full proportions of a giant Triassic amphibian.

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.

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.

401Mesozoic

A millimeter-scale cap and gills show agaric mushrooms in the dinosaur era.

402Mesozoic

A slender stem and tiny cap already resembled marasmioid mushrooms.

403Mesozoic

A mineralized cap brings early agaric evidence to the southern continents.

407Mesozoic

Hyphae surrounding a scale insect preserve a tiny Cretaceous association.

408Mesozoic

Simple club-shaped fruiting bodies show non-gilled fungi in Cretaceous forests.

417Mesozoic

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

420Mesozoic

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

421Mesozoic

Paired forked fronds became an emblem of Triassic southern vegetation.

424Mesozoic

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

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.

434Mesozoic

A coiled shell nearly two meters wide belonged to the largest known ammonite.

435Mesozoic

Rare soft tissues restore the ink sac, fins and ten hooked arms around an internal shell.

439Mesozoic

A needle-like snout and slender body converged on modern barracudas.

440Mesozoic

Dorsal fin spines and two tooth shapes handled fish and hard-shelled prey.

442Mesozoic

A giant bony fish filtered plankton near the ocean surface.

444Mesozoic

Closed otic notches and a broad flat skull marked a giant aquatic ambush predator.

445Mesozoic

A broad half-meter skull carried grooves that sensed water movement.

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.

453Mesozoic

A deep snout with facial ridges marked an early northern tyrannosaurid.

454Mesozoic

A relatively complete skeleton makes this giant titanosaur unusually measurable.

455Mesozoic

Paired neck spines curved forward and may have carried keratin or soft tissue.

456Mesozoic

Scales, simple filaments and branching feather-like structures covered one small herbivore.

457Mesozoic

Incisor, tusk-like and cheek teeth formed an unusual dinosaur dentition.

458Mesozoic

It hunted through polar night, though its supposedly dwarf size remains uncertain.

494Mesozoic

At least seventeen cervical vertebrae produced an unusually long neck for a stegosaur.

495Mesozoic

A long snout, conical teeth and low crest belonged to a spinosaurid that frequently ate fish.

504Mesozoic

Leaves of different lengths on one shoot record an early stage of modern conifer architecture.

505Mesozoic

Entire strap-shaped leaves with dense side veins define a form genus rather than one secure lineage.

525Mesozoic

An extremely narrow snout gave this temnospondyl a gharial-like profile on an amphibian skeleton.

528Mesozoic

A narrow sensory-grooved snout suited an open-water temnospondyl.

531Mesozoic

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

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.

535Mesozoic

Long three-fingered arms and a light body preceded the giant two-fingered tyrannosaurs.

536Mesozoic

This giant carcharodontosaurid shared plains with enormous sauropods and is known from a multi-individual bone bed.

537Mesozoic

Heavy skull armor, neck rings and a tail club belonged to a large Gobi ankylosaur.

538Mesozoic

Short legs, a broad trunk and giant thumb spike made an unusually low heavy iguanodontian.

539Mesozoic

Rows of armor from neck to tail mark an early split among armored dinosaurs.

551Mesozoic

Thick leathery pinnules and lower-surface stomata helped this seed fern withstand seasonal dryness.

552Mesozoic

Huge, nearly undivided strap leaves opened from a stout cycad-like crown.

553Mesozoic

Tough pinnate leaves crowned cycad-like trunks around compact flower-like reproductive organs.

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.

563Mesozoic

A single crest running from snout to skull roof gave this medium theropod a distinctive profile.

564Mesozoic

Long hind limbs and a lightly built skeleton indicate a large, fast-moving theropod.

565Mesozoic

A relatively short neck, strong limbs and primitive vertebrae belonged to a large non-neosauropod herbivore.