In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers have unveiled the ancient origins of avian flight through the extraordinary fossil of Archaeopteryx, offering unprecedented insights into the evolution of feathers and powered flight in birds.
When viewed under ultraviolet light, the soft tissues and fine skeletal details of the new Archaeopteryx specimen become visible. This exceptionally preserved fossil offers the most detailed window yet into the evolution of flight in birds. Researchers report that the remarkable preservation means they can study aspects of the ancient bird that were previously difficult to discern, from the anatomy of its skull to the arrangement of its feathers and soft tissues on its hands and feet.
Archaeopteryx is a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds, discovered in Germany in 1861.
It had reptilian teeth and a long bony tail, but also feathers and wings.
This unique combination of characteristics makes it a crucial find in the study of evolution.
Archaeopteryx was about the size of a large turkey and weighed around 3-4 kg.
Its wings were not strong enough for flight, suggesting that it may have glided or used its wings to help with balance.
Archaeopteryx lived around 150 million years ago, and even 164 years after its discovery, no other feathered dinosaur discovery has been able to knock it off its perch as first bird. The lineage of feathered landbound dinosaurs began to evolve features that allowed them to fly, branching off into the avian side of the family tree. Archaeopteryx is widely considered the oldest known actual bird based on aspects of its feathers and skeleton that suggest it was able to take to the skies.
The presence of specialized inner, secondary feathers on its upper arm bones, known as tertials, has been a long-standing topic of debate. Modern flying birds all have tertials, while nonavian feathered dinosaurs, including Anchiornus, didn’t have them. The discovery of these feathers in Archaeopteryx suggests that tertials might have been a key advance in the evolution of feathered flight.
Archaeopteryx could fly, but it had a lot of ways of getting around. The fossil reveals that its feet were scaled — a first-time observation in an Archaeopteryx specimen. This suggests that it was a bird that walked on the ground most of the time, consistent with its evolutionary position. It was the first dinosaur to use feathers to fly, but by modern standards, it was a very poor flyer.
The remarkable preservation of this fossil has provided researchers with an unparalleled opportunity to study the evolution of flight in birds. The discovery of Archaeopteryx is set to shed new light on how powered feathered flight evolved and whether it occurred once or multiple times in birds’ history.
- sciencenews.org | This exquisite
