Archaeopteryx

Wingspan :  0.5 m (1.5ft)

Length: 30 cm (1 ft)

Weight :  400 g  (14.5 oz)

Archaeopteryx was a vegetarian theropod that lived around 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period. Archaeopteryx is the oldest known bird, but it retained some reptilian features such as teeth and claws on the wings. Archaeopteryx had asymmetrical feathers but probably could not fly very far.

Archaeopteryx  means "ancient wing" and was named by Hermann von Meyer in 1861. In 1868 palaeontologist Thomas Henry Huxley examined Archaeopteryx fossils and concluded that it was a link between reptiles and birds but his ideas were later dismissed and it wasn't until 1986 when research by J.A.Gauthier showed that birds belonged to the Coelurosauria that Huxley's ideas were taken up again.

  • Dinosauria (Dinosaurs)
    • Saurischia (Lizard Hipped)
      • Theropods (bipedal, mostly carnivores)
        • Tetanura (advanced theropods with three fingers)
          • Coelurosauria (fast predators with light hollow bones and large brains)
            • Archaeopteridae
              • Archaeopteryx
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