Crossword clues for archaeopteryx
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Archaeopteryx \Ar`ch[ae]*op"te*ryx\, n. [Gr. 'archai^os ancient + pte`ryx wing.] (Paleon.) A fossil bird, of the Jurassic period, remarkable for having a long tapering tail of many vertebr[ae] with feathers along each side, and jaws armed with teeth, with other reptilian characteristics.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
oldest known fossil bird, 1859, Modern Latin, from archaeo- "ancient, primitive" + Greek pteryx "wing" (see pterodactyl).
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of archæopteryx English)
WordNet
n. extinct primitive toothed bird of the Jurassic period having a long feathered tail and hollow bones; usually considered the most primitive of all birds [syn: archeopteryx, Archaeopteryx lithographica]
Wikipedia
Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name ("original bird" or "first bird"), is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs that is transitional between non-avian feathered dinosaurs and modern birds. The name derives from the ancient Greek (archaīos) meaning "ancient", and (ptéryx), meaning "feather" or "wing". Between the late nineteenth century and the early twenty-first century, Archaeopteryx had been generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird (member of the group Avialae). Older potential avialans have since been identified, including Anchiornis, Xiaotingia, and Aurornis.
Archaeopteryx lived in the Late Jurassic around 150 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany during a time when Europe was an archipelago of islands in a shallow warm tropical sea, much closer to the equator than it is now. Similar in size to a Eurasian magpie, with the largest individuals possibly attaining the size of a raven, the largest species of Archaeopteryx could grow to about in length. Despite their small size, broad wings, and inferred ability to fly or glide, Archaeopteryx had more in common with other small Mesozoic dinosaurs than with modern birds. In particular, they shared the following features with the dromaeosaurids and troodontids: jaws with sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, hyperextensible second toes ("killing claw"), feathers (which also suggest warm-bloodedness), and various features of the skeleton.
These features make Archaeopteryx a clear candidate for a transitional fossil between non-avian dinosaurs and birds. Thus, Archaeopteryx plays an important role, not only in the study of the origin of birds, but in the study of dinosaurs. It was named from a single feather in 1861. That same year, the first complete specimen of Archaeopteryx was announced. Over the years, ten more fossils of Archaeopteryx have surfaced. Despite variation among these fossils, most experts regard all the remains that have been discovered as belonging to a single species, although this is still debated.
Most of these eleven fossils include impressions of feathers. Because these feathers are of an advanced form ( flight feathers), these fossils are evidence that the evolution of feathers began before the Late Jurassic. The type specimen of Archaeopteryx was discovered just two years after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Archaeopteryx seemed to confirm Darwin's theories and has since become a key piece of evidence for the origin of birds, the transitional fossils debate, and confirmation of evolution.
Archaeopteryx is an interactive computer software program, written in Java, for viewing, editing, and analyzing phylogenetic trees. This type of program can be used for a variety of analyses of molecular data sets, but is particularly designed for phylogenomics. Besides tree description formats with limited expressiveness (such as Newick/New Hamphshire, Nexus), ATV also implements the phyloXML format. Archaeopteryx is the successor to the tree viewer ATV.
Usage examples of "archaeopteryx".
But even more than that, from our point of view, the original archaeopteryx was a bird of the past.
Most paleontologists agree now that Archaeopteryx was a true though primitive bird which was still learning to fly, but, in many respects, it was still extremely close to its dinosaur sisters.
In one corner, a live archaeopteryx was shackled to a segment of log by a short length of chain.
And, say, speaking of odd bone structureit never quite seemed possible to me that Archaeopteryx and the pterosaurs could really fly.
Bavaria found the bones of an ancient archaeopteryx, a creature halfway between a bird and a dinosaur.
Confuciusornis lived in China and only 7 million years later than the European Archaeopteryx, it seems likely that the first birds spread quickly and diversified early.
Of course, scientists may point to Archaeopteryx, but it arrived fully formed, showing no fossil record of any transitional forms.
And the flying dinosaurs -- the archaeopteryx and the pterodactyl -- became the most mobile creatures the earth had ever known.
Alas, it is now agreed that poor Archaeopteryx is no relation of modern birds.
God exists whether or not archaeopteryx ever evolved into something better.
Commissioner of Grants for the WSF, who was influential in getting the Archaeopteryx funded.
This was my first word of the discovery, and it told of the identification of early shells, bones of ganoids and placoderms, remnants of labyrinthodonts and thecodonts, great mosasaur skull fragments, dinosaur vertebrae and armor plates, pterodactyl teeth and wing bones, Archaeopteryx debris, Miocene sharks’ teeth, primitive bird skulls, and other bones of archaic mammals such as palaeotheres, Xiphodons, Eohippi, Oreodons, and titanotheres.
This was my first word of the discovery, and it told of the identification of early shells, bones of ganoids and placoderms, remnants of labyrinthodonts and thecodonts, great mosasaur skull fragments, dinosaur vertebrae and armor plates, pterodactyl teeth and wing bones, Archaeopteryx debris, Miocene sharks' teeth, primitive bird skulls, and other bones of archaic mammals such as palaeotheres, Xiphodons, Eohippi, Oreodons, and titanotheres.
But, admonished by an angry hissing from the archaeopteryx, together with a slashing stroke of its beak between his shoulder-blades, he went forward till he could see the fine dark fur on the dormant body and sleepily porrected head.