fossil

Berberis berberidifolia fossil leaf of Burdigalian stage in the early Miocene epoch, from a brown coal mine in Bilina, Czech Republic.

Sable riche en coquilles fossiles provenant de l'intérieur de puits de dissolution du site de l'Ariey. On y voit des coraux, oursins plats (Amphiope), gastéropodes (Melongena, Conus, Cypraea) et des bivalves (Lucina & Barbatia)

Fossil of Mei long (holotype), on temporary display at the Shanghai Natural History Museum as part of the exhibition "China's Dinosaur World". Shot on July 22, 2025.

Sidersaura is a rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. Rebbachisaurids are the last known dipldocoids, and lived alongside the titanosaurs until fairly late in the Cretaceous before disappearing from the fossil record, presumably going extinct. They have long tails and relatively short necks, by sauropod standards. Sidersaura one of the most recent rebbachisaurids yet found, living in the Cenomanian–Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous. It was large for a rebbachisaurid, growing to about 20 m in length.

Fossil of Coloborhynchus, an extinct pterosaur- Took the photo at Naturalis museum, Leiden

Life restoration of the mosasaurine mosasaurid Eremiasaurus, with unknown portions and soft tissues based primarily on Prognathodon and supplemented with Mosasaurus where needed. References Leblanc, A.R.H.; Caldwell, M.W.; Bardet, N. (2012). "A new mosasaurine from the Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) phosphates of Morocco and its implications for mosasaurine systematics". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 (1): 82–104. Lindgren, J.; Kaddumi, H.; Polcyn, M. (2013). "Soft tissue preservation in a fossil marine lizard with a bilobed tail fin". Nature Communications 4: 2423. DOI:10.1038/ncomms3423. Konishi, T.; Brinkman, D.; Massare, J.A.; Caldwell, M.W. (2011). "New exceptional specimens of Prognathodon overtoni (Squamata, Mosasauridae) from the upper Campanian of Alberta, Canada, and the systematics and ecology of the genus". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31 (5): 1026–1046. Russell, D.A. (1967). "Systematics and morphology of American mosasaurs". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 23: 1–241.

Fossil samples – e.g. ‘primitive’ bony fish (1, 2), a skull of a temnospondyl ‘amphibian’ (probably a metoposauroid) in dorsal view (3), a skull of an archosaur of the crocodile lineage (probably a phytosaur) in palatal view (4), holotype of the “gliding reptile” Icarosaurus siefkeri [1] (5) and Atreipus-Grallator-type dinosaur tracks (bottom right) – from the Newark Supergroup, i.e. a series of mainly Late Triassic to Early Jurassic sedimentary rocks of eastern North America ↑ Edwin H. Colbert: A gliding reptile from the Triassic of New Jersey. American Museum Novitates, 2230. American Museum of Natural History, New York 1966, digitallibrary.amnh.org, cf. fig. 3 therein.

Title: A descriptive catalogue of the marine reptiles of the Oxford clay. Based on the Leeds Collection in the British Museum (Natural History), London .. Identifier: descriptivecatal02brit (find matches) Year: 1910 (1910s) Authors: British Museum (Natural History). Dept. of Geology; Andrews, Charles William, 1866-1924 Subjects: Reptiles, Fossil Publisher: London, Printed by order of the Trustees Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: CATAL.MARINE KEPT. OXFORD CLAY. PART II. PLATE I. pmcc. Text Appearing After Image: >p77ia:. G.M.Woodward del. etlibh. West, Newman imp. PLIOSAURUS FEROX. Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.

Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni fossil, Natural History Museum, London

Figure 1. Evolution of macroecological traits in Dinosauria. Large scale event in dinosaur evolution (a); the origin of dinosaurs (star), hyperthermals (volcano), the earliest fossil Avialae (bird), the earliest fossil angiosperm (flower), the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction (asteroid). Phylogeny of dinosaurs (b) redrawn from Sereno and adapted to the current consensus and upon which an ancestral state reconstruction of temperature niche (mean annual temperature) after Chiarenza et al. is plotted; Mesozoic palaeogeographies (c) for Triassic (T), Jurassic (J) and Cretaceous (K). Silhouette colours symbolize body mass for each of the taxa represented; information on dietary habits are plotted after Barrett and Zanno & Makovicky; numbers represent clades discussed through this study: 1, Ornithischia; 2, Thyreophora; 3, Ornithopoda; 4, Hadrosauroidea; 5, Marginocephalia; 6, Ceratopsia; 7, Saurischia; 8, Sauropodomorpha; 9, Sauropoda; 10, Theropoda; 11, Ceratosauria; 12, Tetanurae; 13, Coelurosauria; 14, Maniraptoriformes; 15, Maniraptora; 16, Deinonychosauria; 17, Avialae; 18, Ornithothoraces. Palaeogeographies modified from original plots via R package ‘mapast’ using plate models by Scotese.

Simplified cladogram of Dinosauria with the distribution of feathers according to the fossil record. Despite its more ancient origin, it was only in maniraptoriformes that modern-type feathers (pennaceous feathers) have arisen (Based in Xu & Guo, 2009; Clarke, 2013; Godefroit et al., 2013; Han et al., 2014; Koshchowitz et al., 2014).

Photographer: User:Ballista Edited in Adobe PhotoShop: User:Firsfron Photographed object is in fact a cast of a real fossil. It's part of a hands-on exhibit of the NHM in London.

The Chicago specimen of Archaeopteryx (PA 830), a well-preserved fossil highlighting the transitional features between non-avian dinosaurs and birds, housed at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Fossil of Anhanguera, an extinct reptile-- Took the photo at Natural History Museum, London

Fossil of Balaur, an extinct theropod- Took the photo at Fossil Show, Munich

The Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden boasts the largest collection of marine invertebrate fossils in Canada. Visitors to the museum not only get to see this collection, but can join a dig in search for more fossils at a 109-acre escarpment property. Photo credit: Robyn Hanson