Stephan Spiekman
@stephanspiekman.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Researcher @smnstuttgart.bsky.social. Vertebrate palaeontologist studying Triassic reptile evolution.
Pinned
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Spiekman and Ezcurra doing totally normal things in my office... @stephanspiekman.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Spiekman and Ezcurra doing totally normal things in my office... @stephanspiekman.bsky.social
‼️‼️Triassic Life just opened @smnstuttgart.bsky.social‼️‼️
For all #Triassic fans, lovers of strange reptiles and the Dawn of the Modern World, this is an absolute MUST!
It also couldn't be more timely with our recent publication @nature.com of the wonder reptile #Mirasaura, which is now on display!
For all #Triassic fans, lovers of strange reptiles and the Dawn of the Modern World, this is an absolute MUST!
It also couldn't be more timely with our recent publication @nature.com of the wonder reptile #Mirasaura, which is now on display!
October 18, 2025 at 9:13 AM
‼️‼️Triassic Life just opened @smnstuttgart.bsky.social‼️‼️
For all #Triassic fans, lovers of strange reptiles and the Dawn of the Modern World, this is an absolute MUST!
It also couldn't be more timely with our recent publication @nature.com of the wonder reptile #Mirasaura, which is now on display!
For all #Triassic fans, lovers of strange reptiles and the Dawn of the Modern World, this is an absolute MUST!
It also couldn't be more timely with our recent publication @nature.com of the wonder reptile #Mirasaura, which is now on display!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Placodonts are amazing! Exhibit A: Cyamodus orientalis. And no, this is NOT a turtle.
This is an illustration for my book (in preparation) You can see this one and another Placodont I reconstructed for my book in a new post exclusive for my patrons
Patreon.com/serpenillus
🐡 🎨 🧪 #paleontology 🐍
This is an illustration for my book (in preparation) You can see this one and another Placodont I reconstructed for my book in a new post exclusive for my patrons
Patreon.com/serpenillus
🐡 🎨 🧪 #paleontology 🐍
August 14, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Placodonts are amazing! Exhibit A: Cyamodus orientalis. And no, this is NOT a turtle.
This is an illustration for my book (in preparation) You can see this one and another Placodont I reconstructed for my book in a new post exclusive for my patrons
Patreon.com/serpenillus
🐡 🎨 🧪 #paleontology 🐍
This is an illustration for my book (in preparation) You can see this one and another Placodont I reconstructed for my book in a new post exclusive for my patrons
Patreon.com/serpenillus
🐡 🎨 🧪 #paleontology 🐍
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
The Triassic was a time of weird reptiles of every description.
This is one of the more recent finds: Mirasaura from France. It's one of the drepanosaurs, an odd group of arboreal reptiles with superficially bird-like heads and, in some cases, equally superficially feather-like appendages.
This is one of the more recent finds: Mirasaura from France. It's one of the drepanosaurs, an odd group of arboreal reptiles with superficially bird-like heads and, in some cases, equally superficially feather-like appendages.
October 1, 2025 at 9:10 AM
The Triassic was a time of weird reptiles of every description.
This is one of the more recent finds: Mirasaura from France. It's one of the drepanosaurs, an odd group of arboreal reptiles with superficially bird-like heads and, in some cases, equally superficially feather-like appendages.
This is one of the more recent finds: Mirasaura from France. It's one of the drepanosaurs, an odd group of arboreal reptiles with superficially bird-like heads and, in some cases, equally superficially feather-like appendages.
PhD position available at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin on avialan ontogeny (birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives)!
jobs.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/jobposting/e...
jobs.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/jobposting/e...
42/2025 Research Associate with the goal of a doctorate (f/m/d)
jobs.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin
September 30, 2025 at 9:11 AM
PhD position available at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin on avialan ontogeny (birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives)!
jobs.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/jobposting/e...
jobs.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/jobposting/e...
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
News @ Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken (UMO) in Bayreuth: new ichthyosaur, Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis, named today after UMO's prime excavation site, the Jurassic clay pit Mistelgau. @olorotitan.bsky.social beautifully reconstructed the to-be fossil on a belemnite battleground typical for the locality.
September 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM
News @ Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken (UMO) in Bayreuth: new ichthyosaur, Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis, named today after UMO's prime excavation site, the Jurassic clay pit Mistelgau. @olorotitan.bsky.social beautifully reconstructed the to-be fossil on a belemnite battleground typical for the locality.
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Check out the provisional programme for #SVP2025 #2025SVP - the Triassic symposium was so popular they are running it for the entire day!
vertpaleo.org/wp-content/u...
vertpaleo.org/wp-content/u...
vertpaleo.org
September 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Check out the provisional programme for #SVP2025 #2025SVP - the Triassic symposium was so popular they are running it for the entire day!
vertpaleo.org/wp-content/u...
vertpaleo.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
August 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Meet Spiny Norman, the earliest known and definitely the most outrageously spiky ankylosaur ever discovered, as presented by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social & @richardjbutler.bsky.social in @nature.com. Q: how did it mate? A: carefully. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Extreme armour in the world’s oldest ankylosaur - Nature
The ankylosaurian dinosaur Spicomellus afer possessed a tail weapon and uniquely elaborate dermal armour.
www.nature.com
August 27, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Meet Spiny Norman, the earliest known and definitely the most outrageously spiky ankylosaur ever discovered, as presented by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social & @richardjbutler.bsky.social in @nature.com. Q: how did it mate? A: carefully. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Unusual fossil skin appendage is not a feather. Although large, elongated protrusions on a 247-million-year-old reptile fossil have some similarities to feathers, they are not feathers www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Unusual fossil skin appendage is not a feather
Although large, elongated protrusions on a 247-million-year-old reptile fossil have some similarities to feathers, they are not feathers.
www.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Unusual fossil skin appendage is not a feather. Although large, elongated protrusions on a 247-million-year-old reptile fossil have some similarities to feathers, they are not feathers www.nature.com/articles/d41...
As the icing on a very special cake, our work forms the cover of Nature @nature.com this week, in large part thanks to the amazing reconstruction by @serpenillus.bsky.social!
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
July 31, 2025 at 4:17 PM
As the icing on a very special cake, our work forms the cover of Nature @nature.com this week, in large part thanks to the amazing reconstruction by @serpenillus.bsky.social!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Out today, our Nature cover debut! @stephanspiekman.bsky.social @she-paleo.bsky.social @nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Out today, our Nature cover debut! @stephanspiekman.bsky.social @she-paleo.bsky.social @nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
A paper in Nature describes a Triassic reptile with a crest of appendages on its back, which are neither feathers nor skin. The findings demonstrate that feathers or hair-like protrusions are not unique to birds and mammals. go.nature.com/4nZCySR #Paleosky 🧪
July 24, 2025 at 10:05 PM
A paper in Nature describes a Triassic reptile with a crest of appendages on its back, which are neither feathers nor skin. The findings demonstrate that feathers or hair-like protrusions are not unique to birds and mammals. go.nature.com/4nZCySR #Paleosky 🧪
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
BIG Congratulations to @stephanspiekman.bsky.social and colleagues for a once in a lifetime publication and thank sooo very much for confiding in me to illustrate this magnificent animal. Here is the link to the Nature paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09167-9
July 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM
BIG Congratulations to @stephanspiekman.bsky.social and colleagues for a once in a lifetime publication and thank sooo very much for confiding in me to illustrate this magnificent animal. Here is the link to the Nature paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09167-9
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Here's a newly uncovered fossil that's an evolutionary puzzle. Its plume is not made of feathers. But it's feather-ish. Here's my story (gift link): nyti.ms/40UUlAP
July 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Here's a newly uncovered fossil that's an evolutionary puzzle. Its plume is not made of feathers. But it's feather-ish. Here's my story (gift link): nyti.ms/40UUlAP
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
What a spectacular new specimen - huge congratulations to @stephanspiekman.bsky.social on an excellent paper with great accompanying art!
Here it is! Please welcome the AMAZING Mirasaura grauvogeli, a NEW MARVELOUS Drepanosaur published in NATURE today!
This astonishing reptile lived during the Middle Triassic in Europe and it possessed an amazing crest made of plume-like structures!
I was commissioned to bring it to life
#paleoart
This astonishing reptile lived during the Middle Triassic in Europe and it possessed an amazing crest made of plume-like structures!
I was commissioned to bring it to life
#paleoart
July 23, 2025 at 4:21 PM
What a spectacular new specimen - huge congratulations to @stephanspiekman.bsky.social on an excellent paper with great accompanying art!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
What has a bird-like skull, a lizard-like body and a clawed tail?
It's a drepanosaur! New research has revealed another odd thing about these bizarre Triassic reptiles: a feather-like structure that's nothing to do with birds!
Find out all about it for #FossilFriday 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
It's a drepanosaur! New research has revealed another odd thing about these bizarre Triassic reptiles: a feather-like structure that's nothing to do with birds!
Find out all about it for #FossilFriday 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Bizarre new fossil reptile had crest unlike anything seen before | Natural History Museum
Mirasaura grauvogeli is changing our understanding of reptile evolution.
www.nhm.ac.uk
July 25, 2025 at 10:07 AM
What has a bird-like skull, a lizard-like body and a clawed tail?
It's a drepanosaur! New research has revealed another odd thing about these bizarre Triassic reptiles: a feather-like structure that's nothing to do with birds!
Find out all about it for #FossilFriday 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
It's a drepanosaur! New research has revealed another odd thing about these bizarre Triassic reptiles: a feather-like structure that's nothing to do with birds!
Find out all about it for #FossilFriday 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Herzlichen Glückwunsch an Sie und Ihr Team, lb. Herr Spiekmann. Die fesche Mirasaura hat es dann gestern ja sogar in die 20:15-Tagesschau geschafft, heute in die Süddeutsche
www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/miras...
www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/miras...
Mirasaura grauvogeli: Fossil verändert Verständnis von Reptilien und Federn
Ein 247 Millionen Jahre altes Fossil aus Frankreich zeigt: Reptilienhaut kann mehr als gedacht - nämlich auch Federn bilden, die keine sind.
www.sueddeutsche.de
July 24, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Herzlichen Glückwunsch an Sie und Ihr Team, lb. Herr Spiekmann. Die fesche Mirasaura hat es dann gestern ja sogar in die 20:15-Tagesschau geschafft, heute in die Süddeutsche
www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/miras...
www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/miras...
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
The feature of the Smithsonian on Mirasaura is here
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
This Surprising Ancient Reptile Had a Colorful, Corrugated Sail on Its Back. New Research Suggests It Was Used to Communicate
A 247-million-year-old fossil from a German natural history museum reveals the secrets of Mirasaura
www.smithsonianmag.com
July 24, 2025 at 8:34 PM
The feature of the Smithsonian on Mirasaura is here
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Check out @stephanspiekman.bsky.social's thread to learn more about #Mirasaura!
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
July 23, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Check out @stephanspiekman.bsky.social's thread to learn more about #Mirasaura!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Also, a further congratulations and thanks to @stephanspiekman.bsky.social for his work on Mirasaura, and for taking the time to chat with me for the NatGeo piece!
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
July 23, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Also, a further congratulations and thanks to @stephanspiekman.bsky.social for his work on Mirasaura, and for taking the time to chat with me for the NatGeo piece!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
This whole thread is so cool… I’m constantly blown away by what evolution has come up with.
Also, one more lecture for Vert Biodiversity this fall that I’m going to have to redo!
Also, one more lecture for Vert Biodiversity this fall that I’m going to have to redo!
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
July 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This whole thread is so cool… I’m constantly blown away by what evolution has come up with.
Also, one more lecture for Vert Biodiversity this fall that I’m going to have to redo!
Also, one more lecture for Vert Biodiversity this fall that I’m going to have to redo!
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
It is finally out! Welcome the new Triassic weirdo, the drepanosaur Mirasaura! Hunge congrats to all my colleagues here at the SMNS and beyond! 🤩
I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎
July 24, 2025 at 7:38 AM
It is finally out! Welcome the new Triassic weirdo, the drepanosaur Mirasaura! Hunge congrats to all my colleagues here at the SMNS and beyond! 🤩
Reposted by Stephan Spiekman
Mirasaura has met with great interest. We have compiled a few articles and reports here!
The German main news program Tagesschau visited @stephanspiekman.bsky.social in the museum:
www.tagesschau.de/wissen/forsc...
The German main news program Tagesschau visited @stephanspiekman.bsky.social in the museum:
www.tagesschau.de/wissen/forsc...
Paläontologie: Forschende entdecken "Wundersaurier"
Fast 90 Jahre lagen die Fossilien in der Schublade, bevor sie jetzt mit neuen Methoden untersucht wurden. Ergebnis: Die Forschenden entdeckten eine Saurier-Art mit ungewöhnlichen Eigenschaften. Von Ve...
www.tagesschau.de
July 24, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Mirasaura has met with great interest. We have compiled a few articles and reports here!
The German main news program Tagesschau visited @stephanspiekman.bsky.social in the museum:
www.tagesschau.de/wissen/forsc...
The German main news program Tagesschau visited @stephanspiekman.bsky.social in the museum:
www.tagesschau.de/wissen/forsc...