Archaeopteryx facts for kids
Quick facts for kids ArchaeopteryxTemporal range: Upper Jurassic
150.8 – 148.5 mya |
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| Archaeopteryx as visualized by Nobumichi Tamura |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Archaeopterygidae
Huxley, 1871
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Archaeopteryx
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| Archaeopteryx lithographica |
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Archaeopteryx is one of the most important fossils ever discovered. It is a bird from the Upper Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. It shows the evolutionary link between non-avian theropod dinosaurs and birds. The first Archaeopteryx was found in 1860 near Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany. Today, ten skeletons and one feather of Archaeopteryx have been found.
Archaeopteryx looked like a small carnivorous dinosaur with wings and feathers. It had a mouth with teeth, claws on the hands and a long tail. Today, it is known that dromaeosaurs, and possibly most theropods, looked like birds and that many had feathers. When they are born, today's South American hoatzin have claws on their wings when they are young, just like Archaeopteryx.
Status today
Only one dinobird has been found from a time before Archaeopteryx. It is called Anchiornis huxlei, from 160 to 155 million years ago. It had feathers on both front and rear legs, and could certainly glide. It may or may not have had some ability to fly. This discovery means we cannot say Archaeopteryx is the first known bird, but its contribution to science has been huge. We now know for sure that a whole group of small theropod dinosaurs had feathers, and that flight was a later, secondary, use of feathers. The first use of feathers was temperature regulation, and probably also signalling (see Epidexipteryx).
Directly ancestral or not?
It may be that Archaeopteryx is not directly ancestral to all birds, but it is still a fine transitional fossil.
- "Archaeopteryx, for example, is not necessarily directly ancestral to birds. It may have been a species on a side-branch. However, that in no way disqualifies it as a transitional form, or as evidence for evolution. Evolution predicts that such fossils will exist, and if there was no link between reptiles and birds then Archaeopteryx would not exist, whether it is directly ancestral or not".
Related pages
- Chambers P. 2002. Bones of contention: the fossil that shook science. London: John Murray. ISBN: 0-7195-6059-4
- Shipman P. 1998. Taking wing: Archaeopteryx and the evolution of bird flight. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN: 0-297-84156-4
Images for kids
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The single feather
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Cast of the Maxberg Specimen
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Eichstätt Specimen, once considered a distinct genus, Jurapteryx
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Daiting Specimen, the holotype of A. albersdoerferi
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Bürgermeister-Müller ("chicken wing") Specimen
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Details of the Wyoming Dinosaur Center Archaeopteryx (WDC-CSG-100)
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The eleventh specimen
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Anatomical illustration comparing the "frond-tail" of Archaeopteryx with the "fan-tail" of a modern bird
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Artist's restoration illustrating one interpretation of Carney's study
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The Thermopolis Specimen
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The twelfth specimen
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Skeletal restorations of various specimens
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The Solnhofen Specimen, by some considered as belonging to the genus Wellnhoferia
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1880 photo of the Berlin specimen, showing leg feathers that were removed subsequently, during preparation
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The Munich Specimen
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Replica of the London Specimen
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Reconstructed skeleton, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
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Growth trends compared with other dinosaurs and birds
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Restoration of Archaeopteryx chasing a juvenile Compsognathus
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See also
In Spanish: Archaeopteryx para niños
