Contents: Basics of evolution

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Birds found in the Author's Post Box

Archaeoptryx - II

Bird Body's

Archaeopteryx

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION: Aves

TIME PERIOD: Jurrasic

HABITAT: Coastal regions

DESCRIPTION:

A particularly important piece in evolution is Archaeopteryx lithographica, found in the Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone (a fine-grained limestone of the Jurassic period formed in a shallow, tropical marine environment, probably in a coral region, where lime-rich muds slowly accumulated and allowed fossil material to be exceptionally well preserved ) of southern Germany, which has few but exceptionally well preserved fossils.

Archaeopteryx is considered to be the first bird, being of about 150 million years of age. In reality it is the intermediate portion between birds and the predatory dinosaurs like Deinonychus. One skeleton of Archaeopteryx that had poorly preserved feathers was originally described as a skeleton of a small dinosaur, Compsognathus. A total of seven specimens of the bird are known at this time. It has been universally accepted that Archaeopteryx was an intermediate form between birds and reptiles, and that it is the earliest known bird. It has been found that it bears more resemblance to its ancestors, the Maniraptora, than to modern birds; providing a strong phylogenetic link between the two groups. It is one of the most important fossils ever discovered.

ITS PART IN EVOLUTION TABLE: The Archaeoptryx is the intermediate step between reptiles and birds.