The Fossil Gallery is a starting point for exploring ancient life on Fossilguy.com. Browse dinosaurs, prehistoric sharks, mammals, giant Carboniferous insects, trilobites, eurypterids, Cambrian oddities, fossil plants, and other organisms. The guides draw from peer-reviewed publications, museum collections, and current paleontological research, with real fossils and clear explanations for a general audience.
Explore by group: This page is organized as a visual index. Start with a broad group below, then follow the individual guides for deeper fossil information. The gallery covers both famous animals, such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Otodus megalodon, and less familiar forms such as placoderms, eurypterids, Prototaxites, and giant Carboniferous insects.
Vertebrates are animals with a backbone. Their fossil record includes early fishes, dinosaurs, marine reptiles, birds, and mammals. The guides below highlight some of the best-known prehistoric vertebrates and the fossils that reveal how they lived.
Dinosaurs lived for more than 160 million years and evolved into an enormous range of body sizes and lifestyles. These guides cover familiar predators and herbivores as well as the connection between dinosaurs and birds.
The Mesozoic was also home to major reptile groups outside Dinosauria. Mosasaurs dominated Late Cretaceous seas, while pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight.
After the end-Cretaceous extinction, mammals spread into ecological roles once occupied by many Mesozoic groups. The Cenozoic produced giant rhinoceros relatives, unusual elephants, brontotheres, cave bears, and many other mammals unlike anything living today.
Some mammals returned to the water during the Cenozoic and eventually became fully marine. Early whales and dolphins document that transition and show how quickly mammals diversified in ocean ecosystems.
Sharks are cartilaginous fishes, so teeth are far more common as fossils than complete skeletons. Their fossil record stretches back hundreds of millions of years and includes everything from small Paleozoic forms to the giant Otodus megalodon. For more species and fossil information, visit the Prehistoric Shark Gallery, where you can learn detailed information on over 20 species of sharks, including fossil identification.
Placoderms were armored fishes that flourished during the Paleozoic, especially the Devonian. Their jaws carried sharpened bony plates rather than true teeth. The best-known example is Dunkleosteus, one of the largest predators in Devonian seas.
Most animal diversity is invertebrate, and the fossil record includes many arthropod groups that look very different from modern animals. Here you can explore giant Paleozoic insects, trilobites, eurypterids, and some of the strangest animals of the Cambrian Explosion.
The Late Carboniferous is famous for unusually large arthropods. Giant griffinflies such as Meganeura flew over coal forests, while other extinct insect groups also reached impressive sizes. The dedicated Giant Carboniferous Insects guide looks at their fossils, how large they became, why high oxygen is only part of the story, and why their old aerial niches are now occupied by animals such as birds and bats.
Trilobites were marine arthropods that lived throughout much of the Paleozoic Era. Fossil collectors often call them "bugs," but they were not insects. More than 20,000 species have been described, with an enormous variety of body shapes, spines, eyes, and lifestyles. For a broader overview, visit the Trilobite Gallery.
Eurypterids were ancient aquatic arthropods that lived from the Ordovician through the Permian. Despite the nickname "sea scorpions," they were their own extinct group. Most were modest in size, but a few species grew to more than two meters long. Visit the Eurypterid Gallery for more.
Cambrian seas were filled with some of the strangest animals in Earth's history. Fossils from the Burgess Shale and Chengjiang Biota preserve predators, swimmers, burrowers, and filter feeders with body plans that can look almost alien today. Explore the full Weird Cambrian Animals guide.
Individual Cambrian Animal Guides
Anomalocaris | Opabinia | Hallucigenia | Wiwaxia | Ottoia | Pikaia | Nectocaris | Odaraia | Marrella | Dinomischus
The fossil record is much more than animals. Plants record ancient forests, climates, and ecosystems, while fossils such as Prototaxites remind us that some ancient organisms still resist simple labels.
Leaves, wood, seeds, roots, pollen, and entire trees can enter the fossil record. Plant fossils help reconstruct ancient climates and show what the landscapes surrounding prehistoric animals actually looked like.
Prototaxites formed huge trunk-like structures in Silurian and Devonian landscapes. Its exact biology was debated for more than a century, making it one of the classic puzzles of early terrestrial life.
INCLY provides budget-friendly rock hounding gear, ranging from the widely favored 15-piece geology kit featured in the image to compact 4- and 5-piece sets. These tools are ideal for fossil and mineral collecting, particularly in harder matrixes and shale.
View on Amazon
The Roadside Geology Series offers state-specific paperback books that serve as valuable mile-by-mile guides with detailed maps and illustrations. Although they do not pinpoint fossil hunting spots, these affordable books help explain regional geology. Highly recommended for fossil hunters; I've personally enjoyed the Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania editions.
View on Amazon
This is a great updated fossil sites book with at least one fossil site in each state. Each site is broken into two pages: one with detailed information such as directions, GPS coordinates, and formation information, and another with images of the site and fossils found there. It also includes fossil viewing sites such as dinosaur trackways, museums, and active excavations. Plus, my fossil photos are peppered throughout the book!
View on AmazonJump to Fossil Gallery Sections
Dinosaurs | Reptiles | Land Mammals | Marine Mammals | Sharks | Placoderms | Giant Carboniferous Insects | Trilobites | Eurypterids | Cambrian Oddities | Plants | FAQs
To ask Questions about Paleontology, Fossil Identification, Image Use, or anything else, email us.
Fossilguy.com is very active on Facebook, you can also message us there!
We don't buy or sell fossils, so please don't email us asking about the value of a fossil or fossil purchases.
© 2000 - 2026 : All rights reserved
FOSSILGUY.COM
Fossilguy.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising
fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
