Archaeopteryx Characteristics

Archaeopteryx was a carnivore (meat eater) that measured around one foot (30 centimetres) in length and had a wing span of 1.5 feet (0.5 metres). It only weighed 11 - 18 ounces (300 - 500 grams). Archaeopteryx was similar in size and shape to a magpie, with broad, rounded wings and a long tail. Its feathers resembled those of modern birds but Archaeopteryx was rather different from any bird known today, in that it had jaws lined with sharp teeth, 3 'fingers' ending in curved claws and a long bony tail.

Archaeopteryx is the oldest-known bird. The flight feathers of Archaeopteryx were highly asymmetrical, as in the wings of modern birds, and the tail feathers are rather broad. This implies that the wings and tail were used for lift generation, but it is unclear whether Archaeopteryx was simply a glider, or capable of flapping flight. The lack of a bony breastbone suggests that Archaeopteryx was not a very strong flier, but flight muscles might have attached to the thick, boomerang-shaped wishbone, the platelike coracoids, or perhaps to a cartilagenous sternum.

The sideways orientation of the glenoid (shoulder) joint between scapula, coracoid and humerus - instead of the dorsally angled arrangement found in modern birds - suggests that Archaeopteryx was unable to lift its wings above its back, a requirement for the upstroke found in modern flapping flight. Therefore, it seems likely that Archaeopteryx was indeed unable to use flapping flight as modern birds do, but it may well have utilized a downstroke-only flap-assisted gliding technique.

Amazingly detailed Archaeopteryx fossils have been found in fine-grained Jurassic limestone in southern Germany. Over the years, nine 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, though this is still debated.

Many of these fossils include impressions of feathers—among the oldest (if not the oldest) direct evidence of feathers. Moreover, because these feathers are an advanced form (flight feathers), these fossils are evidence that the evolution of feathers began before the Late Jurassic.

Archaeopteryx was named by Hermann von Meyer in 1861.