Archaeopteryx lithographica

移動

• Archaeopteryx could fly actively, probably in short bursts.

  証拠レベル：中程度の証拠出典 · 1

  Its feathers have the asymmetric shape of flight feathers and its wing bones match those of birds that flap in short bursts. Its shoulder was less advanced than modern birds', so it was not a strong flier.

  賛成・反対の証拠 · 2

  支持する証拠

  • 組織学 · Archaeopteryx wing bone cross-sections

    Synchrotron scans of wing bones show thin walls and a geometry closer to birds that flap in short bursts than to non-flying animals.

  • 羽毛印象 · Archaeopteryx flight feather impressions

    Asymmetric flight feathers on the wings and a pair of rows along the tail, preserved in the limestone around the skeletons.

    標本： NHMUK PV OR 37001 “London specimen”, MB.Av.101 “Berlin specimen”

皮膚と体表

• At least some of the feathers of Archaeopteryx were black.

  証拠レベル：中程度の証拠出典 · 1

  Pigment structures preserved in one isolated feather match those of black feathers in living birds. It says nothing about the rest of the plumage, and the feather's owner is assumed to be Archaeopteryx.

  賛成・反対の証拠 · 1

  支持する証拠

  • 羽毛印象 · Melanosomes in the isolated Archaeopteryx feather

    Fossil pigment structures (melanosomes) in the 1861 feather, compared with living birds, indicate a dark, probably matte black colour.

羽毛

• Archaeopteryx had flight feathers on its arms, tail and legs.

  証拠レベル：直接証拠出典 · 2

  The feathers are preserved as impressions in the fine limestone, including asymmetric wing feathers like those of flying birds and, in one specimen, pennaceous leg feathers.

  賛成・反対の証拠 · 1

  支持する証拠

  • 羽毛印象 · Archaeopteryx flight feather impressions

    Asymmetric flight feathers on the wings and a pair of rows along the tail, preserved in the limestone around the skeletons.

    標本： NHMUK PV OR 37001 “London specimen”, MB.Av.101 “Berlin specimen”

その他

• Archaeopteryx is an early member of the bird lineage (Avialae).

  証拠レベル：中程度の証拠出典 · 2

  Most family-tree analyses put it at the base of the bird lineage, but some place it closer to Velociraptor. It is best read as a close relative near the origin of birds, not the ancestor of living birds.

  賛成・反対の証拠 · 1

  支持する証拠

  • 系統推定 · Phylogenetic analyses placing Archaeopteryx

    Most analyses recover Archaeopteryx as the earliest avialan; Xu et al. (2011) recovered it among deinonychosaurs instead.

生息環境： Solnhofen archipelago

152–150 百万年前 · 島, 海岸縁, その他

Warm, shallow lagoons behind reefs, dotted with low, dry islands, on the northern margin of the Tethys Sea in the Late Jurassic. The stagnant, salty bottom water let fine lime mud bury carcasses in exceptional detail.