New species of the 'first bird' Archaeopteryx uncovered

PUBLIC RELEASE: 25-OCT-2018

A new species of the famous 'first bird', Archaeopteryx, supporting its status as the transitional fossil between birds and dinosaurs, has been published by in the journal Historical Biology.

Contrary to some previous studies, Archaeopteryx can now be conclusively shown to be a primitive bird antecedent, and an evolutionary intermediate between birds and dinosaurs, which possessed teeth and clawed fingers.

The new study also used state-of-the-art 3D X-ray analyses (Synchrotron microtomography) to virtually dissect the fossil and identify skeletal adaptions that would have helped Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi to fly.

The fossil was made available for study by scientists, who after over seven years of research recognised it as a new species -- Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi.

"Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi is one of the most important specimens of Archaeopteryx because it is around 400,000 years younger than any of the others found so far," noted lead author Martin Kundrát from the University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik, Slovakia.

"This is the first time that numerous bones and teeth of Archaeopteryx were viewed from all aspects including exposure of their inner structure. The use of synchrotron microtomography was the only way to study the specimen as it is heavily compressed with many fragmented bones partly or completely hidden in limestone", Kundrát continued.

"Geochemical analysis of the rock encasing the bones implies this specimen came, unlike others, from the younger Mörnsheim Formation", said Dr John Nudds from Manchester University, UK.

"Our analysis has shown that Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi shares more features in common with modern birds than their dinosaurian ancestors" said Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University in Sweden.

These traits suggest that Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi may have possessed enhanced flying ability relative to geologically older species of Archaeopteryx.

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The early bird got to fly: Archaeopteryx was an active flyer

Date:  March 13, 2018

Source:  European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

The question of whether the Late Jurassic dino-bird Archaeopteryx was an elaborately feathered ground dweller, a glider, or an active flyer has fascinated palaeontologists for decades. Valuable new information obtained with state-of-the-art synchrotron microtomography at the ESRF, the European Synchrotron (Grenoble, France), allowed an international team of scientists to answer this question in Nature Communications. The wing bones of Archaeopteryx were shaped for incidental active flight, but not for the advanced style of flying mastered by today's birds.

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'Rock star' Archaeopteryx fossil heads for Japan

Jonathan Amos Science correspondent

8 March 2017

One of the true "rock stars" of the fossil world is going on tour for the first time. 

London's Natural History Museum has sent its specimen of Archaeopteryx - the so-called "first bird" - to Japan.

It is travelling in Asia with nearly 300 other treasures from the South Kensington institution's collections. 

The limestone slabs that contain the bones of this pivotal creature on the evolutionary line from dinosaurs to birds are considered priceless. 

They are also very delicate. But museum officials are satisfied the iconic fossil will come to no harm.

"The scary thing is that it contains parts that are only one or two millimetres in depth, and so for me going to Tokyo with it is a bit challenging," concedes Lorraine Cornish, the head of conservation at the NHM.

"But we're doing some exciting touring exhibitions - putting ourselves out there to promote our collections. And if you're going to do an exhibition about the 'treasures of the Natural History Museum' then you kind of have to include this fossil because it really is a treasure."

Purchased in 1863 for £700 from Germany, where it was unearthed, the fossil was kept initially at the British Museum before being moved to the NHM when it opened in 1881. It has not been out of the building since - until now.

The fossil is referred to by experts simply as the "London Specimen".

Read on 

Rival species recast significance of ‘first bird’

Archaeopteryx’s status is changing, but the animal is still key to the dinosaur–bird transition.

Ewen Callaway

03 December 2014

Fossil remains of Archaeopteryx established it as the first bird — but that title is now under threat.

The iconic status of Archaeopteryx, the first animal discovered with both bird and dinosaur features, is under attack. More-recently discovered rival species show a similar mix of traits. But Archaeopteryx still hogged the opening symposium at the 2014 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Berlin last month, and even festooned the official conference beer glasses.

As the simplistic idea of a ‘first’ bird gives way to a messy evolutionary transition, newly discovered fossils and improved analysis techniques put Archaeopteryx in prime position to unravel the details. “Research onArchaeopteryx is really catching a new breath,” says palaeobiologist Martin Kundrat of Uppsala University in Sweden, who co-organized the symposium at the November meeting.

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First Birds Valued Fashion Over Flight

JUL 2, 2014 01:00 PM ET // BY JENNIFER VIEGAS

Archaeopteryx, the iconic early bird that lived around 150 million years ago, sported feathered “trousers” on its hind limbs as well as other decorative feathers, and researchers now believe at least some non-avian dinosaur and bird feathers evolved for flashy display before they were later recruited for flight.

They've finally found a fossilized mosquito full of prehistoric blood! So a real "Jurassic Park" is right around the corner, right?

DCI

That's the conclusion of a new study, published in the journal Nature, which describes a remarkable new specimen of Archaeopteryx that includes extensive feather preservation.

“The excellent preservation of the feathers in the new specimen helps to clarify many contentious issues,” senior author Oliver Rauhut of Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich told Discovery News. “The specimen not only shows the wing and tail feathers in great detail, but also body plumage and feathers along the hind limbs…(which are) similar to the feather ‘trousers’ found in many modern birds of prey.”

The researchers determined that quill-like feathers covered Archaeopteryx’s entire body up to its head. Its hind limb feathers were symmetrical, indicating they didn't help with flight.

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Archaeopteryx: X-rays shine new light on mystery 'bird'

22 May 2014 Last updated at 01:25

By James Morgan

Science reporter, BBC News, Grenoble

The pinhole camera reveals hidden feathers inside the fossil slab

Is it a bird? Is it a dinosaur? Or something in between?

The feathered limbs of Archaeopteryx have fascinated palaeontologists ever since Charles Darwin's day.

Only 12 of these curious creatures have ever been found.

Now these precious fossils are going under the glare of a giant X-ray machine - to find out what lies buried beneath the surface.

Using a new "camera obscura" technique - inspired by Leonardo da Vinci - scientists have captured some of the clearest ever images ofArchaeopteryx.

For the first time, they can see the complete skeleton in 3D. Not just the surface outlines, but all the hidden bones and feathers too.

They hope to discover how "the first true birds" evolved from feathered dinosaurs and took flight.

And what's more, to answer a riddle that has puzzled palaeontologists for 150 years. Could Archaeopteryx fly, or not?

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New Feathered Dino May Be World's First Bird

Tanya Lewis, LiveScience Staff Writer

Date: 30 May 2013 Time: 04:26 PM ET

The skeleton of a Jurassic dinosaur from China could also be the oldest known bird, scientists report.

The fossil of Aurornis xui was found last year in a museum at the Fossil and Geology Park in Yizhou, China, long after a farmer first dug it up in the Liaoning Province. The feathery specimen represents the most ancient of the avialans, the group that includes birds and their relatives since their split from nonavian dinosaurs.

The research also reconfirms the birdlike fossil Archaeopteryx as an avialan, a classification that was challenged by some recent research.

Not everyone agrees that the new specimen is strictly a bird. "In my opinion, it's a bird," study author Pascal Godefroit, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, told Nature News. Even so, he added, "The differences between birds and [nonavian] dinosaurs are very thin."

"Traditionally, we have defined birds as things like Archaeopteryx and closer to things like modern birds," vertebrate paleontologist Luis Chiappe of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, who was not involved in the study, told LiveScience. "If you stick to the definition, this thing is not earliest known bird," Chiappe said, but that's missing the point, he said. What matters, is that it's a very interesting animal that "still helps us understand better the origin of birds," he said.

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Archaeopteryx: The Transitional Fossil

Paleontologists view Archaeopteryx as a transition between dinosaurs and modern birds. With its blend of avian and reptilian features, it was thought by many to have been the earliest bird. Discovered in 1860 in Germany, it is sometimes referred to as Urvogel, the German word for "original bird" or "first bird." Recent discoveries, however, have made scientists rethink that status.

The more common name Archaeopteryxis a combination of two ancient Greek words: archaīos, meaning "ancient," andptéryx, meaning "feather" or "wing." All 11 fossil specimens have been assigned, with some controversy, to a single species, Archaeopteryx 

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/24745-archaeopteryx.html