The Power and Thrill of Naming: Unused Extinct Superpowers

Because I'm Trilobiteman!

In a previous post, I explored unused animal superpowers. This time, I'm setting the dial back a few million or billion years in search of more superhero inspiration.

What extinct animals could be the basis of a superhero's powers? Well then, the Power and Thrill of Naming Things is here to find out.

Cambrian:

Trilobite (ubiquitous arthropod)
Radiodonta (stem-group arthropod)
Hallucigenia (spined invertebrate)
Wiwaxia (lightly armored invertebrate)

Ordovician/Silurian:

Eurypterid (sea scorpion)
Dunkleosteus (giant, jawed, armored fish)
Orthoceras (straight shelled nautiloid)
Graptolites (colonial animals)

Devonian/Carboniferous:

Pteraspis (jawless, armored fish)
Tiktaalik (transitional fish)
Akmonistion (spine-brush finned shark)
Arthropleura (giant millipede)

Permian:

Helicoprion (wheel-toothed shark)
Diplocaulus (wedge-headed amphibian)
Dimetrodon (sail-backed synapsid)
Gorgonopsian (sabre-toothed therapsid)

Triassic:

Tanystropheus (long-necked archosaur)
Lystrosaurus (herbavore therapsid)
Herrerasaurus (early theropod dinosaur)
Plateosaurus (early sauropodomorph dinosaur)

Jurassic:

Dilophosaurus (theropod dinosaur)
Kentrosaurus (stegosaurid dinosaur)
Vulcanodon (sauropod dinosaur)
Psittacosaurus (ceratopsian dinosaur)

Cretaceous:

Quetzalcoatlus (giant pterosaur)
Kronosaurus (giant, short-necked pliosaur)
Deinosuchus (giant crocodile)
Carcharodontosaurus (giant therapod dinosaur)

Paleogene/Neogene:

Phorusrhacos (terror bird)
Megatherium (giant sloth)
Entelodont (hell pig)
Indricotherium (tallest mammal)

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