Archaeopteryx

(redirected from Archaeopteryx lithographica)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to Archaeopteryx lithographica: Urvogel

Archaeopteryx

the earliest known fossil bird (genus Archaeopteryx) found in the Jurassic period about 140 million years BP. The bird is characterized by the presence of teeth in the jaws, claws on the wing and a tail containing vertebrae.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

The oldest known bird, Archaeopteryx lithographica, lived roughly 150 million years ago and had modern feathers.

Dinosaur fossil yields feathery structures

The famous fossil, the Thermopolis specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica, made its way by truck from the Wyoming Dinosaur Center to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) in California, where it was meticulously scanned by one of the world's most powerful X-ray machines, a building-sized device created for physics research.

Hidden secrets of dinos may be revealed by X-ray technique

For more than a century, the lowest branches of the avian family tree seemed a lonely place, occupied by the solitary species Archaeopteryx lithographica, the oldest known bird.