Bonebed

Early Cambrian seas were almost entirely soft-bodied; the first widely biomineralised skeletons appear here, which is why Cambrian fossils are the oldest that look like bone at all.

1. Olenoides 油栉虫属 Trilobita 0 kg - 0 kg
2. Anomalocaris 奇虾属 Radiodonta 1 kg - 2 kg

The Age of Fishes: armoured placoderms rule the seas while the first forests and the first four-limbed tetrapods appear on land. Ends with the Kellwasser extinction pulses.

1. Dunkleosteus 邓氏鱼属 Placodermi 1.0 t - 4.0 t

Coal-swamp forests fix enormous amounts of carbon; atmospheric oxygen peaks near 30 percent, which is the window in which giant flying insects are mechanically possible.

1. Meganeura 巨脉蜻蜓属 Insecta 0 kg - 0 kg

Pangaea is at its most complete and its interior is dry. Ends with the end-Permian crisis, the largest extinction in the fossil record.

1. Dimetrodon 异齿龙属 Sphenacodontidae 150 kg - 250 kg

Recovery after the Permian crisis produces the first dinosaurs, the first pterosaurs and the first true mammals, all three within about 30 million years of each other.

1. Plateosaurus 板龙属 Sauropodomorpha 600 kg - 1.2 t
2. Coelophysis 腔骨龙属 Theropoda 15 kg - 25 kg

Pangaea breaks apart, shallow seas flood the continents, and sauropods reach their absolute size ceiling. The Solnhofen lagoon preserves feathers in limestone.

1. Megalosaurus 巨齿龙属 Theropoda 700 kg - 1.0 t
2. Ichthyosaurus 鱼龙属 Ichthyosauria 1.0 t - 1.5 t
3. Plesiosaurus 蛇颈龙属 Plesiosauria 400 kg - 700 kg
4. Allosaurus 异特龙属 Theropoda 1.4 t - 2.5 t
5. Diplodocus 梁龙属 Sauropodomorpha 10.0 t - 16.0 t
6. Brachiosaurus 腕龙属 Sauropodomorpha 28.0 t - 56.0 t
7. Archaeopteryx 始祖鸟属 Theropoda 0 kg - 1 kg
8. Stegosaurus 剑龙属 Ornithischia 3.0 t - 7.0 t

Flowering plants spread, chalk seas deposit the white limestone that names the period, and the largest terrestrial predators that ever lived appear in the final two million years.

1. Protoceratops 原角龙属 Ornithischia 80 kg - 180 kg
2. Therizinosaurus 镰刀龙属 Theropoda 3.0 t - 5.0 t
3. Iguanodon 禽龙属 Ornithischia 3.0 t - 4.0 t
4. Deinonychus 恐爪龙属 Theropoda 60 kg - 100 kg
5. Spinosaurus 棘龙属 Theropoda 6.5 t - 7.5 t
6. Pteranodon 无齿翼龙属 Pterosauria 20 kg - 25 kg
7. Mosasaurus 沧龙属 Mosasauridae 5.0 t - 14.0 t
8. Ankylosaurus 甲龙属 Ornithischia 4.5 t - 8.0 t
9. Velociraptor 伶盗龙属 Theropoda 14 kg - 20 kg
10. Triceratops 三角龙属 Ornithischia 6.0 t - 12.0 t
11. Tyrannosaurus 暴龙属 Theropoda 5.4 t - 8.8 t

Repeated glacial cycles drive the megafauna of the mammoth steppe, and the record ends with an extinction pulse that overlaps the spread of modern humans.

1. Mammuthus 猛犸象属 Proboscidea 4.0 t - 8.0 t