Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx (är'kēŏp`tərĭks) [Gr.,=primitive wing], most primitive known bird, a 150 million-year-old fossil of which was first discovered in 1860 and described the following year in the late Jurassic limestone of Solnhofen, Bavaria. All eight known fossils of Archaeopteryx, discovered between 1860 and 1992, were found in a 516 sq-mi (1,336 sq-km) area of the Solnhofen quarries. Classified as a bird because of the presence of feathers and the structure of the legs and wings, it nevertheless had many characteristics now found only in reptiles or in bird embryos. It was about the size of a pigeon or grackle. It is still debated whether Archaeopteryx was arboreal or a swiftly running terrestrial animal and poor flyer. Some claim that a fossil discovered in West Texas in 1983 and dubbed Protoavis represents a primitive bird that predates Archaeopteryx by some 75 million years.

Bibliography

See L. M. Witmer, The Search for the Origin of Birds (1995); A. Feduccia, The Origin and Evolution of Birds (1996); S. Chatterjee, The Rise of Birds (1997); P. Shipman, Taking Flight: Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight (1998).

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archaeopteryx

Oldest known fossil animal that is generally accepted as a bird (classified as genus Archaeopteryx). It flourished during the Late Jurassic period (159–144 million years ago). Fossil specimens indicate that archaeopteryx ranged in size from as small as a blue jay to as large as a chicken. Archaeopteryx shared anatomical characteristics with both birds (well-developed wings and birdlike skull) and theropod dinosaurs (well-developed teeth and a long tail).

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archaeopteryx

any of several extinct primitive birds constituting the genus Archaeopteryx, esp A. lithographica, which occurred in Jurassic times and had teeth, a long tail, well-developed wings, and a body covering of feathers

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Archaeopteryx [‚ärk·ē′äp·tə·riks]

(paleontology)

The earliest known bird; a genus of fossil birds in the order Archaeopterygiformes characterized by flight feathers like those of modern birds.