Trelew, Argentina --- A fossil specimen of the Permian amphibianLimnocelis, from the Collection of Egidio Feruglio Museum. --- Image by © Kevin Schafer/Corbis
2004 --- Fossilized Devonian Fish --- Image by © Michael Freeman/Corbis
Germany --- Lizard fossil (Eichstaettisaurus schroederi) discovery in the Solnhofen Limestone Formation at Eichstaett, Germany. Fossil is housed at the Juramuseum in Eichstaett, Germany. | Location: EICHSTAETT, Germany. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
Germany --- Fish Fossil (Mesturus verrucosus) discovered at Wintershof, Germany. | Location: EICHSTAETT, Germany. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
Germany --- Crustacean fossil (Bylgia haeberleini) discovered in the Solnhofen Limestone Formation at Eichstaett, Germany. | Location: EICHSTAETT, Germany. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
Fossil Angelfish (Mene rhombea) dating to the Eocene Epoch (67 million years ago) from Monte Bolca, Italy. --- Image by © Visuals Unlimited/Corbis
Solnhofen, Franconia, Germany, Germany --- Archaeopteryx fossil (Archaeopteryx lithographica) from the Solnhofen limestone beds in Bavaria, Germany. --- Image by © Frans Lanting/Corbis
Germany --- Cast of a short-tailed pterosaur (Pterodactylus kochi) with gular pouch and other soft parts preserved. Size is 45cm. Fossil is 150 millions years old. Discovered in Eichstaett. Fossil is housed at the Juramuseum in Eichstaett, Germany. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
August 2008, Lucerne, Switzerland --- Fossil Kopidodon, a genus of extinct squirrel-like mammals in the order Cimolesta, Eocene Epoch, found in the Messel Fossil Pits near Darmstadt, Germany. From the collection of the Natural History Museum in Lucerne, Switzerland. | Location: Lucerne, Switzerland. --- Image by © Kevin Schafer/Corbis
15 Apr 2009, Pullman, Washington State, USA --- Pelycosaur fossil found in Texas --- Image by © Kevin Schafer/Corbis
Lizard fossil (Homeosaurus pulchellus) one hundred and forty million years ago during late Jurassic period. Kelheim, Germany
![Cast of 'Berlin Specimen', original in Humboldt Museum, Berlin. This specimen was found in 1877 and is articulated with the head arched back over the neck and the wings extended. The original is probably the most valuable fossil in the world.
Archeopteryx sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel ("original bird" or "first bird"), is the earliest and most primitive bird known. The name derives from the Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (archaios) meaning "ancient", and πτέρυξ (pteryx), meaning "feather" or "wing". Archaeopteryx lived during the Late Jurassic Period around 150–145 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size and shape to a European Magpie, Archaeopteryx could grow to about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) in length. Despite its small size, broad wings, and inferred ability to fly or glide, Archaeopteryx has more in common with small theropod dinosaurs than it does with modern birds. In particular, it shares the following features with the deinonychosaurs (dromaeosaurs and troodontids): jaws with sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, hyperextensible second toes ("killing claw"), feathers (which also suggest homeothermy), and various skeletal features. The features above make Archaeopteryx a clear candidate for a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds.[3][4] Thus, Archaeopteryx plays an important role not only in the study of the origin of birds but in the study of dinosaurs.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Science/Fossilien/i-bMzDMDP/0/5d0c8515/XL/42-26275778-XL.jpg)
Cast of 'Berlin Specimen', original in Humboldt Museum, Berlin. This specimen was found in 1877 and is articulated with the head arched back over the neck and the wings extended. The original is probably the most valuable fossil in the world. Archeopteryx sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel ("original bird" or "first bird"), is the earliest and most primitive bird known. The name derives from the Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (archaios) meaning "ancient", and πτέρυξ (pteryx), meaning "feather" or "wing". Archaeopteryx lived during the Late Jurassic Period around 150–145 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size and shape to a European Magpie, Archaeopteryx could grow to about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) in length. Despite its small size, broad wings, and inferred ability to fly or glide, Archaeopteryx has more in common with small theropod dinosaurs than it does with modern birds. In particular, it shares the following features with the deinonychosaurs (dromaeosaurs and troodontids): jaws with sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, hyperextensible second toes ("killing claw"), feathers (which also suggest homeothermy), and various skeletal features. The features above make Archaeopteryx a clear candidate for a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds.[3][4] Thus, Archaeopteryx plays an important role not only in the study of the origin of birds but in the study of dinosaurs.
A fossil of a prehistoric creature is seen in Luoping county, Qujing city, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province, December 24, 2010. A giant cache of nearly 20,000 fossil reptiles, shellfish and a host of other prehistoric creatures unearthed from a mountain in China is now revealing how life recovered after the most devastating mass extinction on Earth. This research could help point out which species might be more or less susceptible to extinction nowadays, and how the world might recover from the damage caused by humanity, scientists added. Life was nearly completely wiped out approximately 250 million years ago by massive volcanic eruptions and devastating global warming. Only one in 10 species survived this cataclysmic end-Permian event. Much was uncertain regarding the steps life took to piece itself back together after this disaster, or even how long it took. Now the clearest picture yet of this recovery has been discovered by a team of researchers, who excavated away half a mountain in Luoping in southwest China to unearth thousands of marine fossils, the first fully functional ecosystem seen after the end-Permian. The pattern and timing of recovery can tell us something about how life today might recover after human-induced crises, said researcher Michael Benton, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol in England.
Solnhofen, Franconia, Germany, Germany --- Pterosaur Fossil --- Image by © Frans Lanting/Corbis
England, UK --- Trilobite Fossil of the Ordovician Period, 473-476 million years ago, found in England. --- Image by © Visuals Unlimited/Corbis
Germany --- Lizard fossil (Homeosaurus maximiliani) discovered in the Solnhofen Limestone Formation at Rupertsbuch, Germany. | Location: EICHSTAETT, Germany. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
Germany --- Crustacean fossil (Aeger spinipes) discovered in the Solnhofen Limestone Formation at Eichstaett, Germany. | Location: EICHSTAETT, Germany. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
Fossil Brittle Star (Geocoma carinata), dating to the Upper Jurassic Period (152 million years ago) from Germany. --- Image by © Visuals Unlimited/Corbis
Fossil, dating to the Eocene Epoch (52 million years ago), of a Mioplosus labracoides eating a smaller fish, found in Wyoming, USA. --- Image by © Visuals Unlimited/Corbis
Germany --- Snaky reptile (Pleurosaurus goldfussi) with small extremities discovered at Mörnsheimer Schichten, Daiting, Bavaria. --- Image by © Naturfoto Honal/Corbis
August 2008, Solnhofen, Franconia, Germany, Germany --- Copy of a Jurassic Period fossil Gyrodus circularis, also called a Parrot Fish or Moonfish, from the Solnhofen limestone formation, Germany. --- Image by © Kevin Schafer/Corbis
Original caption: A fish fossil is imprinted in sandstone. --- Image by © Mark Gibson - Rainbow/Science Faction/Corbis
Reptile fossil of the Triassac Period named Pachypleurosaurus found high in the Swiss Alps. This specimen was found on the Monte San Giorgio, Tessin, Switzerland and is in the collection of the Institute of Palaeontology in Zurich. The prehistoric animal resembled an aquatic lizard and it is long extinct. This fossil shows a complete skeleton with long vertebrate. Pachypleurosaurus is in Nothosaur order and are related to modern crocodiles.
Ichthyosaur fossil (Stenopterygius quadricissus), a marine fish-like reptile, Jurassic Period, 160 m.y.a., Germany.
France --- Fossil Crocodileimus robustus from France dated to 145 million years --- Image by © Chris Hellier/Corbis