Insights into Jurassic sea turtle diversity!🐢 A fresh look at historical Lagerstätten specimens is revealing just how varied eurysternid turtles (Thalassochelydia) really were. By JURASSICA Museum's @spichergael.bsky.social #EAVP2026

A new Upper Franconian ichthyosaur species has been discovered from Mistelgau. Learn all about it on the @pensoft.net blog! 🔗 blog.pensoft.net/2025/09/26/n... @spichergael.bsky.social @feikosaur.bsky.social @mfnberlin.bsky.social Artwork: @olorotitan.bsky.social

New Jurassic ichthyosaur species discovered in Mistelgau

Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles, with dolphin-like bodies, that lived during the time of the dinosaurs.

blog.pensoft.net

Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis is interesting because it is quite a bit younger than all other known Eurhinosaurus species. It gives us vital information of these ichthyosaurs close to the Middle Jurassic faunal turnover. Art: Andrey Atuchin, used with permission from Urwelt-Museum Oberfranken

A new ichthyosaur species is discovered! Welcome Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis! fr.pensoft.net/article/1542... Huge congratulations to @spichergael.bsky.social for leading this project.

A new Eurhinosaurus (Ichthyosauria) species from the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) of Mistelgau (Bavaria, Southern Germany)

Eurhinosaurus is a European Lower Jurassic longirostrine ichthyosaur, characterized by its remarkable overbite. Despite the long history of the genus, the taxonomy of Eurhinosaurus is still under deba...

fr.pensoft.net

The study was conducted by @spichergael.bsky.social & colleagues (@feikosaur.bsky.social) & published today in @mfnberlin.bsky.social's Open access journal Fossil Record. Congrats to all authors! It's available here: fr.pensoft.net/article/1542... Fossil & artwork to be exhibited at UMO in future.

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.

‼️ PAPER ALERT ‼️ We describe a new German ichthyosaur species: Eurhinosaurus mistelgauensis, from Upper Toarcian layers of Mistelgau (Bavaria). 🇩🇪 👉 Published in Fossil Record with @feikosaur.bsky.social , Jelle Heijne & Nicole Klein. Check the full article here: fr.pensoft.net/article/1542...

Got to Lyon yesterday! Here to dive into some Late Jurassic turtles. 🐢time to dust off fossils that haven’t been touched since the 1800s!

The JURASSICA museum is organizing a paleontological field school again this year! Come and join us! 🦖🐢⛏️ Learn more here: www.jurassica.ch/en/Practical...

Spent the whole week working on a beautifully preserved Eurysternum wagleri. 🐢 First stop: Ann Arbor for CT-scanning —huge thanks to @friedmanlab.bsky.social for the warm welcome, taking the time to scan the specimen, and inviting me to give a short talk on my PhD research #FossilFriday

Fossil Friday is the perfect time to introduce the newest member of the JURASSICA Museum family! 🦖 #FossilFriday #Jurassic

Just submitted a huge manuscript (nearly 30,000 words!) with a fantastic team! It’s a detailed descriptive study of a well-known Jurassic ichthyosaur, a deep dive into its anatomy. Can’t wait to share it with you all soon! 🤩 #paleontology #ichthyosaur

My PhD student Guilherme Hermanson & I have a new paper out today in Ecology & Evolution! 🐢🤩 We think the morphologically conservative body plan of turtles can in part be explained by allometric constraints imposed by the shell. Thread 👇 for some highlights onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Shell Constraints on Evolutionary Body Size–Limb Size Allometry Can Explain Morphological Conservatism in the Turtle Body Plan

Turtle body size and limb size scale nearly isometrically along the group's evolution, although major deviations are only seen in highly specialized ecological or morphological groups. The evolution ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Hi Bluesky! I’am doing a PhD in paleontology at the Jurassica Museum and University of Fribourg. My project focuses on the diversity of thalassochelydian turtles 🐢 (such as this skull of Solnhofia brachyrhyncha). I'm also working on other fossil turtles and marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs.