Andrzej Wolniewicz
@aswolniewicz.bsky.social
Vertebrate Palaeontologist 🦕 Triassic Marine Reptiles 🦎➡️🐬 Assistant Professor at Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 🇵🇱🇪🇺
Pinned
New paper out in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social! With a team led by @barankarapunar.bsky.social, we report an Early Triassic marine vertebrate assemblage from the 🇮🇹 Dolomites that includes a possible saurosphargid, one of the earliest records of the group in the world! 🐢 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Welcome Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda! I'm delighted to introduce you to a new species of protomammal. Hailing from the Triassic of Tanzania, this is the first record of Dinodontosaurus outside of South America, and it informs on the origin of dinosaurs. Here's a thread summarising our findings 🧵
September 16, 2026 at 7:00 AM
Welcome Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda! I'm delighted to introduce you to a new species of protomammal. Hailing from the Triassic of Tanzania, this is the first record of Dinodontosaurus outside of South America, and it informs on the origin of dinosaurs. Here's a thread summarising our findings 🧵
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
1/4 🐢 What should fossil turtle systematics look like ten years from now?
Walter Joyce & I offer our personal answer in a new review paper: "Transforming Turtle Systematics: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Ahead"
Out now in @journalsystpal.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Walter Joyce & I offer our personal answer in a new review paper: "Transforming Turtle Systematics: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Ahead"
Out now in @journalsystpal.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
September 14, 2026 at 10:55 AM
1/4 🐢 What should fossil turtle systematics look like ten years from now?
Walter Joyce & I offer our personal answer in a new review paper: "Transforming Turtle Systematics: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Ahead"
Out now in @journalsystpal.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Walter Joyce & I offer our personal answer in a new review paper: "Transforming Turtle Systematics: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Ahead"
Out now in @journalsystpal.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Oops, I hadn’t even shared a link to our latest paper…. “Hard-object feeding adaptations infer relative predator-prey size relationships in #Devonian #placoderms” from @theskullywaglab.bsky.social et al.
www.nature.com/articles/s41... published in Scientific Reports 🐟 🦷 🩻 #FEA
www.nature.com/articles/s41... published in Scientific Reports 🐟 🦷 🩻 #FEA
Hard-object feeding adaptations infer relative predator-prey size relationships in Devonian placoderms - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Hard-object feeding adaptations infer relative predator-prey size relationships in Devonian placoderms
www.nature.com
September 14, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Oops, I hadn’t even shared a link to our latest paper…. “Hard-object feeding adaptations infer relative predator-prey size relationships in #Devonian #placoderms” from @theskullywaglab.bsky.social et al.
www.nature.com/articles/s41... published in Scientific Reports 🐟 🦷 🩻 #FEA
www.nature.com/articles/s41... published in Scientific Reports 🐟 🦷 🩻 #FEA
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
New paper out today! Led by Daniel Schwarz, we retrodeformed the skull and reconstructed the cranio-mandibular musculature of the giant stem-amphibian Mastodonsaurus giganteus. Our results show that Mastodonsaurus had a powerful bite and a crocodile-
like bite-and-hold feeding style.
like bite-and-hold feeding style.
September 15, 2026 at 8:04 AM
New paper out today! Led by Daniel Schwarz, we retrodeformed the skull and reconstructed the cranio-mandibular musculature of the giant stem-amphibian Mastodonsaurus giganteus. Our results show that Mastodonsaurus had a powerful bite and a crocodile-
like bite-and-hold feeding style.
like bite-and-hold feeding style.
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
New research out today! Some animals have three eyes?! This eye isn't for "seeing" per se, but it's connected to a part of the brain responsible for regulating body temperature. So if you see a lizard basking out in the sun to get warm, oftentimes this eye plays a central role.
But there's more...
But there's more...
August 5, 2026 at 1:05 PM
New research out today! Some animals have three eyes?! This eye isn't for "seeing" per se, but it's connected to a part of the brain responsible for regulating body temperature. So if you see a lizard basking out in the sun to get warm, oftentimes this eye plays a central role.
But there's more...
But there's more...
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Excited to share our new paper in Science Advances! Led by Dr Wei Wang at #IVPP in Beijing, it presents a complete skeleton of #Austronaga, the most marine of all archosauromorphs. To boot, this fossil preserves the oldest complete digestive tract of any reptile! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
July 29, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Excited to share our new paper in Science Advances! Led by Dr Wei Wang at #IVPP in Beijing, it presents a complete skeleton of #Austronaga, the most marine of all archosauromorphs. To boot, this fossil preserves the oldest complete digestive tract of any reptile! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Spectacular discovery: Researchers, including Dr. @stephanspiekman.bsky.social (Natural History Museum Stuttgart & @unihohenheim.bsky.social) have, for the first time, identified parts of the digestive system in a 245-million-year-old marine reptile from China.
Press release: https://t1p.de/7e2wr
Press release: https://t1p.de/7e2wr
July 30, 2026 at 8:45 AM
Spectacular discovery: Researchers, including Dr. @stephanspiekman.bsky.social (Natural History Museum Stuttgart & @unihohenheim.bsky.social) have, for the first time, identified parts of the digestive system in a 245-million-year-old marine reptile from China.
Press release: https://t1p.de/7e2wr
Press release: https://t1p.de/7e2wr
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
🦈 New #Open-access paper 🥳 on the impact of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction 🌋 on marine vertebrates 🐠, from the Dolomites (Italy) together with @aswolniewicz.bsky.social, Carlo Romano & others. We report the first Early Triassic marine reptile from the Dolomites 😎 #FossilFriday
New insights into the extinction and recovery of marine vertebrates across the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event in the Dolomites, Southern Alps, Italy
The impact of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction on marine vertebrates is incompletely understood due to their scarce fossil record. To better understand marine vertebrate extinction and recovery...
www.tandfonline.com
July 24, 2026 at 12:12 PM
🦈 New #Open-access paper 🥳 on the impact of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction 🌋 on marine vertebrates 🐠, from the Dolomites (Italy) together with @aswolniewicz.bsky.social, Carlo Romano & others. We report the first Early Triassic marine reptile from the Dolomites 😎 #FossilFriday
New paper out in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social! With a team led by @barankarapunar.bsky.social, we report an Early Triassic marine vertebrate assemblage from the 🇮🇹 Dolomites that includes a possible saurosphargid, one of the earliest records of the group in the world! 🐢 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
July 23, 2026 at 4:03 PM
New paper out in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social! With a team led by @barankarapunar.bsky.social, we report an Early Triassic marine vertebrate assemblage from the 🇮🇹 Dolomites that includes a possible saurosphargid, one of the earliest records of the group in the world! 🐢 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Excited to see our work with @trsimoes.bsky.social and @anniehsiou.bsky.social published in Nature @nature.com
🐍 Early snake evolution was more dynamic than expected, spanning diverse habitats and sensory strategies 🐍
@helsinki-biotech.bsky.social @helsinki.fi
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🐍 Early snake evolution was more dynamic than expected, spanning diverse habitats and sensory strategies 🐍
@helsinki-biotech.bsky.social @helsinki.fi
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Exceptional brain and ecological diversity in the earliest snakes - Nature
A well-preserved fossil snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil shows early ecological and brain shape disparity in the group.
www.nature.com
July 22, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Excited to see our work with @trsimoes.bsky.social and @anniehsiou.bsky.social published in Nature @nature.com
🐍 Early snake evolution was more dynamic than expected, spanning diverse habitats and sensory strategies 🐍
@helsinki-biotech.bsky.social @helsinki.fi
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🐍 Early snake evolution was more dynamic than expected, spanning diverse habitats and sensory strategies 🐍
@helsinki-biotech.bsky.social @helsinki.fi
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
New review paper with Martín Ezcurra just published in @journalsystpal.bsky.social as part of a special issue!
Modern reptiles comprise archosaurs 🐊🦉, lepidosaurs🦎🐍, and turtles🐢, but their origins is murky. Where do turtles fit in, really? And most marine reptiles? Choristoderes? Drepanosaurs? ->
Modern reptiles comprise archosaurs 🐊🦉, lepidosaurs🦎🐍, and turtles🐢, but their origins is murky. Where do turtles fit in, really? And most marine reptiles? Choristoderes? Drepanosaurs? ->
June 25, 2026 at 3:08 PM
New review paper with Martín Ezcurra just published in @journalsystpal.bsky.social as part of a special issue!
Modern reptiles comprise archosaurs 🐊🦉, lepidosaurs🦎🐍, and turtles🐢, but their origins is murky. Where do turtles fit in, really? And most marine reptiles? Choristoderes? Drepanosaurs? ->
Modern reptiles comprise archosaurs 🐊🦉, lepidosaurs🦎🐍, and turtles🐢, but their origins is murky. Where do turtles fit in, really? And most marine reptiles? Choristoderes? Drepanosaurs? ->
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Interesting dive into endocast anatomy in some of the closest 'fish' relatives of land vertebrates. Congrats to @draliceclement.bsky.social & team.
Ethmosphenoid endocasts elucidate evolutionary brain divergences & interrelationships of stem tetrapods onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @draliceclement.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday
June 20, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Interesting dive into endocast anatomy in some of the closest 'fish' relatives of land vertebrates. Congrats to @draliceclement.bsky.social & team.
The giant #ichthyosaur #Cymbospondylus petrinus from the Middle Triassic of Nevada, USA, recently featured in #SurvivingEarth! The skull alone measured over 1 m, entire animal likely exceed the size of a modern killer whale! Cast in the collections of the Royal Tyrrell Museum 🦎➡️🐬 #FossilFriday
June 19, 2026 at 4:30 PM
The giant #ichthyosaur #Cymbospondylus petrinus from the Middle Triassic of Nevada, USA, recently featured in #SurvivingEarth! The skull alone measured over 1 m, entire animal likely exceed the size of a modern killer whale! Cast in the collections of the Royal Tyrrell Museum 🦎➡️🐬 #FossilFriday
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
New in @science.org ...since our first discoveries of early tetrapods, they have been thought of as "amphibians" characterized by aquatic larvae. But is this true? For the first time, we report exceptional fossils of stem tetrapod babies that upend this paradigm. 1/n
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Direct development of stem tetrapods across the fin-to-limb transition
Modern amphibians are characterized by an aquatic larval stage that ends abruptly with a period of widespread tissue remodeling (metamorphosis) upon transition to terrestrial adulthood. A transient la...
www.science.org
June 18, 2026 at 6:43 PM
New in @science.org ...since our first discoveries of early tetrapods, they have been thought of as "amphibians" characterized by aquatic larvae. But is this true? For the first time, we report exceptional fossils of stem tetrapod babies that upend this paradigm. 1/n
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Fantastic research led by @lucyroberts.bsky.social examines the evolution of axial skeletal complexity in reptiles. Turns out the textbooks were wrong- highly complex vertebral columns evolve multiple times within amniotes!
Roberts, L.E., Head, J.J. Nat Commun (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Roberts, L.E., Head, J.J. Nat Commun (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Evolution of the reptile spine reveals independent trajectories to axial skeletal complexity in amniotes - Nature Communications
Complex axial skeletal morphology has evolved in mammals and some reptiles. Here the authors combine morphometrics with a maximum likelihood model to find that axial heterogeneity is associated with b...
doi.org
June 17, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Fantastic research led by @lucyroberts.bsky.social examines the evolution of axial skeletal complexity in reptiles. Turns out the textbooks were wrong- highly complex vertebral columns evolve multiple times within amniotes!
Roberts, L.E., Head, J.J. Nat Commun (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Roberts, L.E., Head, J.J. Nat Commun (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
I like ichthyosaurs, they are like if a lizard was also a tuna
May 5, 2026 at 3:05 AM
I like ichthyosaurs, they are like if a lizard was also a tuna
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
🦖 A single, late-stage foetus has been described in detail within the right uterine horn of the early-diverging ichthyosaur Besanosaurus leptorhynchus.
🔍 The orientation of the fossilised remains suggests a tail-first birth took place!
➡️ Find out more: doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.183128
🔍 The orientation of the fossilised remains suggests a tail-first birth took place!
➡️ Find out more: doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.183128
June 2, 2026 at 6:36 AM
🦖 A single, late-stage foetus has been described in detail within the right uterine horn of the early-diverging ichthyosaur Besanosaurus leptorhynchus.
🔍 The orientation of the fossilised remains suggests a tail-first birth took place!
➡️ Find out more: doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.183128
🔍 The orientation of the fossilised remains suggests a tail-first birth took place!
➡️ Find out more: doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.183128
#Throwback to #CSVP2026 at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology! 🦈🐊🦖🦣🇨🇦 It was a pleasure to present my research on Late Triassic #ichthyosaurs from British Columbia, reconnect with friends and meet many new colleagues! 😎 Thanks to the organisers for putting together an excellent meeting!
June 2, 2026 at 4:25 PM
#Throwback to #CSVP2026 at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology! 🦈🐊🦖🦣🇨🇦 It was a pleasure to present my research on Late Triassic #ichthyosaurs from British Columbia, reconnect with friends and meet many new colleagues! 😎 Thanks to the organisers for putting together an excellent meeting!
New paper out now in @fr.pensoft.net! Together with @feikosaur.bsky.social and colleagues based in Germany and Italy, we describe the foetus of the Middle #Triassic #ichthyosaur Besanosaurus leptorhynchus from Monte San Giorgio 🇮🇹 with implications for ichthyosaur taxonomy and reproductive biology! 👇
Baby ichthyosaur alert! Here we describe the Besanosaurus foetus for the first time in detail. The holotype of Besanosaurus was thought to preserve embryonic material earlier, but here we studied it in detail. It is a single foetus. lying in tail-first presentation.
fr.pensoft.net/article/1831...
fr.pensoft.net/article/1831...
June 1, 2026 at 3:45 PM
New paper out now in @fr.pensoft.net! Together with @feikosaur.bsky.social and colleagues based in Germany and Italy, we describe the foetus of the Middle #Triassic #ichthyosaur Besanosaurus leptorhynchus from Monte San Giorgio 🇮🇹 with implications for ichthyosaur taxonomy and reproductive biology! 👇
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
In honor of this week's paper providing new anatomical support for a sister-group relationship between archosaurs and turtles, here's the delightfully weird jaw of the Triassic archosauromorph Trilophosaurus (UMMP VP 26419) #FossilFriday
May 29, 2026 at 9:43 PM
In honor of this week's paper providing new anatomical support for a sister-group relationship between archosaurs and turtles, here's the delightfully weird jaw of the Triassic archosauromorph Trilophosaurus (UMMP VP 26419) #FossilFriday
The skull and neck of the early fish-shaped #ichthyosaur Macgowania from the Late Triassic (~220M years ago) of BC, Canada, examined during my recent visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum as part of a research project with Dr Ilaria Paparella funded by MINIATURA 9 from @ncn.gov.pl #FossilFriday
May 29, 2026 at 3:06 PM
The skull and neck of the early fish-shaped #ichthyosaur Macgowania from the Late Triassic (~220M years ago) of BC, Canada, examined during my recent visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum as part of a research project with Dr Ilaria Paparella funded by MINIATURA 9 from @ncn.gov.pl #FossilFriday
Reposted by Andrzej Wolniewicz
Our paper on turtle origins is finally out in Current Biology, with two major implications for our understanding of reptile evolution 🐢
#Paleontology #Turtles #Evolution
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#Paleontology #Turtles #Evolution
www.cell.com/current-biol...
May 28, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Our paper on turtle origins is finally out in Current Biology, with two major implications for our understanding of reptile evolution 🐢
#Paleontology #Turtles #Evolution
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#Paleontology #Turtles #Evolution
www.cell.com/current-biol...