Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name, "Urvogel " is an extinct genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The genus name derives from the Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος, meaning 'ancient', and πτέρυξ, meaning 'feather, wing'. Between the late 19th century and the early 21st century, Archaeopteryx was generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird. Older potential avialans have since been identified, including Anchiornis, Xiaotingia, Aurornis, and Baminornis.

Archaeopteryx

H. Raab ( User: Vesta ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AvialaePBDB
Diet
piscivore, insectivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
coastalPBDB
Length
0.5 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 145.06 Mya to 125.77 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 149.2 Mya to 121.4 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 9 of 10 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 10 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous150–149 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 2 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 2 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 2 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 2 occurrences145–144 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences144–143 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–126 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences126–125 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences125–124 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences124–123 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences122–121 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences145.06 Mya125.77 Mya149.8 Mya120.8 Mya

10 occurrences of Archaeopteryx on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

10 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Altmühltal — 48.99°N, 11.20°EAltmühltal — 48.89°N, 10.96°EAltmühltal — 48.93°N, 11.15°EAltmühltal — 48.90°N, 11.90°ESolnhofen — 48.89°N, 10.99°ECamarillas — 40.22°N, 1.89°WPainten — 48.92°N, 11.59°EMörnsheim — 48.79°N, 10.90°E

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The named rock units Archaeopteryx has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Archaeopteryx and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Archaeopteryx and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

29 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 10 sites for Archaeopteryx, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 10 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Archaeopteryx

Credit
H. Raab ( User: Vesta )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Archaeopteryx sp. · FMNH:PA:830

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAvialae through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Meyer 1861