SciArtSeptember 4: Coral
Mirasaura grauvogeli, one of the fantastic Triassic oddballs known as drepanosaurs.
Mirasaura grauvogeli, one of the fantastic Triassic oddballs known as drepanosaurs.
September 11, 2026 at 1:58 PM
SciArtSeptember 4: Coral
Mirasaura grauvogeli, one of the fantastic Triassic oddballs known as drepanosaurs.
Mirasaura grauvogeli, one of the fantastic Triassic oddballs known as drepanosaurs.
#Mirasaura and #Longisquama are #drepanosaurs. These tree-living specialists have bird-like skulls, prehensile tails, and grasping limbs. A typical Triassic weirdo, they perhaps vaguely resembled a pygmy anteater.
But it's fair to say, we just made drepanosaurs even weirder!
But it's fair to say, we just made drepanosaurs even weirder!
July 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM
#Mirasaura and #Longisquama are #drepanosaurs. These tree-living specialists have bird-like skulls, prehensile tails, and grasping limbs. A typical Triassic weirdo, they perhaps vaguely resembled a pygmy anteater.
But it's fair to say, we just made drepanosaurs even weirder!
But it's fair to say, we just made drepanosaurs even weirder!
Me to drepanosaurs: why can’t you just be normal?
Drepanosaurs:
Drepanosaurs:
Proud to make my National Geographic debut with this incredible discovery! Meet Mirasaura, an extremely weird little guy with independently-evolved "feathers" that solves a longstanding Triassic mystery and makes one of the period's oddest families even stranger.
(Now with a fixed link!)
(Now with a fixed link!)
Is it a bird? A monkey? No, it's a 'miraculous' new prehistoric reptile
Mirasaura grauvogeli had a featherlike crest and a tail like a monkey. “It's been a long time since I've been so blown away by a new fossil discovery.”
www.nationalgeographic.com
July 23, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Me to drepanosaurs: why can’t you just be normal?
Drepanosaurs:
Drepanosaurs:
New art!
Mirasaura grauvogeli, the new Triassic Drepanosaur and close relative of Longisquama!
#paleoart #SciArt #art #reptiles #drepanosaurs
Mirasaura grauvogeli, the new Triassic Drepanosaur and close relative of Longisquama!
#paleoart #SciArt #art #reptiles #drepanosaurs
July 25, 2025 at 5:08 PM
New art!
Mirasaura grauvogeli, the new Triassic Drepanosaur and close relative of Longisquama!
#paleoart #SciArt #art #reptiles #drepanosaurs
Mirasaura grauvogeli, the new Triassic Drepanosaur and close relative of Longisquama!
#paleoart #SciArt #art #reptiles #drepanosaurs
It occurred to me to update my Longisquama skeletal reconstruction with recent findings of close relation to drepanosaurs.
The first one was dozens ans dozens of years ago, rendered from bad photographs. It's really bad.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
The first one was dozens ans dozens of years ago, rendered from bad photographs. It's really bad.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
August 2, 2025 at 8:08 AM
It occurred to me to update my Longisquama skeletal reconstruction with recent findings of close relation to drepanosaurs.
The first one was dozens ans dozens of years ago, rendered from bad photographs. It's really bad.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
The first one was dozens ans dozens of years ago, rendered from bad photographs. It's really bad.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
Drepanosaurs: “what if we had even more claws?”
Drepanosaurs have such character!
Drepanosaurus, a Late Triassic arboreal reptile not closely related to anything living today. #Sciart
Drepanosaurus, a Late Triassic arboreal reptile not closely related to anything living today. #Sciart
October 7, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Drepanosaurs: “what if we had even more claws?”
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? ->
The unique morphology of drepanosaurs makes it tricky to assess their evolutionary position, although it's clear they don't belong to any modern reptile group.
We found that they split off before the origin of all modern reptiles, making their crest even more surprising!
We found that they split off before the origin of all modern reptiles, making their crest even more surprising!
July 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The unique morphology of drepanosaurs makes it tricky to assess their evolutionary position, although it's clear they don't belong to any modern reptile group.
We found that they split off before the origin of all modern reptiles, making their crest even more surprising!
We found that they split off before the origin of all modern reptiles, making their crest even more surprising!
Drepanosaurs are great. We've got Turdhands, Claw Claw, and Beans, and they all looked kinda like this:
October 23, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Drepanosaurs are great. We've got Turdhands, Claw Claw, and Beans, and they all looked kinda like this:
Another Triassic oddball: Hypuronector. This little one looks like he has an attitude.
Since the publication of a feather-like crest on related Mirasaura, it’s plausible to imagine other drepanosaurs also having something similar - perhaps they just haven’t been preserved.
Since the publication of a feather-like crest on related Mirasaura, it’s plausible to imagine other drepanosaurs also having something similar - perhaps they just haven’t been preserved.
October 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Another Triassic oddball: Hypuronector. This little one looks like he has an attitude.
Since the publication of a feather-like crest on related Mirasaura, it’s plausible to imagine other drepanosaurs also having something similar - perhaps they just haven’t been preserved.
Since the publication of a feather-like crest on related Mirasaura, it’s plausible to imagine other drepanosaurs also having something similar - perhaps they just haven’t been preserved.
I am fond of drepanosaurs, it’s true.
September 21, 2026 at 1:11 PM
I am fond of drepanosaurs, it’s true.
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.
What's really interesting about drepanosaurs is that while people have argued quite a bit about where they belong in the reptile family tree, there's good reason to think that they're part of a lineage that split off way before the group containing modern reptiles
July 23, 2025 at 3:21 PM
What's really interesting about drepanosaurs is that while people have argued quite a bit about where they belong in the reptile family tree, there's good reason to think that they're part of a lineage that split off way before the group containing modern reptiles
I think, as Mesozoic reptiles go, drepanosaurs are *criminally* underrated and it's a shame that nobody's put one in a paleo-documentary yet
July 21, 2025 at 8:52 PM
I think, as Mesozoic reptiles go, drepanosaurs are *criminally* underrated and it's a shame that nobody's put one in a paleo-documentary yet
However, this doesn't mean they were aquatic, merely that there is a mosaic of terrestrial, aquatic, and aboreal characteristics among drepanosaurs, along with the previously discussed fossorial (digging) adaptations in some taxa.
Drepanosaurs are far more diverse than presuming all-in-one ecology.
Drepanosaurs are far more diverse than presuming all-in-one ecology.
August 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM
However, this doesn't mean they were aquatic, merely that there is a mosaic of terrestrial, aquatic, and aboreal characteristics among drepanosaurs, along with the previously discussed fossorial (digging) adaptations in some taxa.
Drepanosaurs are far more diverse than presuming all-in-one ecology.
Drepanosaurs are far more diverse than presuming all-in-one ecology.
like other drepanosaurs, mirasaura - whose name means 'marvellous lizard' - was likely an arboreal insectivore, indicated by its strongly curved claws (well-suited for climbing) and its long, pointed rostrum
July 23, 2025 at 3:21 PM
like other drepanosaurs, mirasaura - whose name means 'marvellous lizard' - was likely an arboreal insectivore, indicated by its strongly curved claws (well-suited for climbing) and its long, pointed rostrum
Drepanosaurs were some of the strangest of all reptiles. Bird-like heads, chameleon-like bodies, and even claws on their tails. Now fossils discovered 80 years ago in France have shown that these “monkey lizards” were even stranger still - at least two species wore colorful fans on their backs. 🧪
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 6:36 PM
Drepanosaurs were some of the strangest of all reptiles. Bird-like heads, chameleon-like bodies, and even claws on their tails. Now fossils discovered 80 years ago in France have shown that these “monkey lizards” were even stranger still - at least two species wore colorful fans on their backs. 🧪
Oh, but this wasn't enough.
A new paper by Spiekman et al. now propose Longisquama is a drepanosauromorph --or simiosaur, whatever -- and this comes it more peculiarites. It makes other things MAKE SENSE, too. Those RIBS.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
A new paper by Spiekman et al. now propose Longisquama is a drepanosauromorph --or simiosaur, whatever -- and this comes it more peculiarites. It makes other things MAKE SENSE, too. Those RIBS.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
August 2, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Oh, but this wasn't enough.
A new paper by Spiekman et al. now propose Longisquama is a drepanosauromorph --or simiosaur, whatever -- and this comes it more peculiarites. It makes other things MAKE SENSE, too. Those RIBS.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
A new paper by Spiekman et al. now propose Longisquama is a drepanosauromorph --or simiosaur, whatever -- and this comes it more peculiarites. It makes other things MAKE SENSE, too. Those RIBS.
#drepanosaurs #sciart #skeletal_reconstruction #longisquama #mirasaura
Manifesting drepanosaurs, longisquama and some temnospondyls
November 25, 2024 at 1:34 AM
Manifesting drepanosaurs, longisquama and some temnospondyls
Between Mirasaura and Longisquama, it's entirely possible (though still speculative!) that these sorts of feather-like structures are present in other drepanosaurs. So with that in mind, I couldn't resist sketching an annoyed Drepanosaurus with a flamboyant crest.
(He angy.)
(He angy.)
July 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Between Mirasaura and Longisquama, it's entirely possible (though still speculative!) that these sorts of feather-like structures are present in other drepanosaurs. So with that in mind, I couldn't resist sketching an annoyed Drepanosaurus with a flamboyant crest.
(He angy.)
(He angy.)
Researchers also have done a lot of work on a group of weird Triassic animals known as drepanosaurs, sometimes called "monkey lizards," which have an absolute bizarre suite of adaptations for living in trees, birdlike faces and weird humped backs.
July 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Researchers also have done a lot of work on a group of weird Triassic animals known as drepanosaurs, sometimes called "monkey lizards," which have an absolute bizarre suite of adaptations for living in trees, birdlike faces and weird humped backs.
Resolving such a staple enigmatic taxon like Longisquama into drepanosaurs, not only is incredibly satisfying, but also makes drepanosaurs EVEN WEIRDER. And all this? Thanks to an amazingly cool new taxonm this is why paleontology is so cool.
Proud to make my National Geographic debut with this incredible discovery: an extremely weird little guy with independently-evolved "feathers" that solves a longstanding Triassic mystery and makes one of the period's oddest families even stranger
Crested Triassic Reptile
Mirasaura grauvogeli had a featherlike crest and a tail like a monkey. “It's been a long time since I've been so blown away by a new fossil discovery.”
www.nationalgeographic.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Resolving such a staple enigmatic taxon like Longisquama into drepanosaurs, not only is incredibly satisfying, but also makes drepanosaurs EVEN WEIRDER. And all this? Thanks to an amazingly cool new taxonm this is why paleontology is so cool.
in this phylogeny, drepanosaurs - along with some other groups like the gliding wiegeltisaurids - fall outside of sauria, the 'crown group' reptiles, and are quite distantly related to archosaurmorphs, represented today by birds and crocodilians
July 23, 2025 at 3:28 PM
in this phylogeny, drepanosaurs - along with some other groups like the gliding wiegeltisaurids - fall outside of sauria, the 'crown group' reptiles, and are quite distantly related to archosaurmorphs, represented today by birds and crocodilians