Paleontologists Find New Species Of Archeopteryx, The 'Missing Link' Between Dinosaurs And Birds

The discovery 'confirms Archeopteryx as the first bird,' notes the researchers who analyzed the fossil.

In the nearly 160 years since its discovery, Archeopteryx has become known as the "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds. This feathered beast of the Late Jurassic lived some 150 million years ago and occupied the territory that is now southern Germany.

Part of a genus of bird-like dinosaurs, Archeopteryx represents the transition from feathered non-avian dinosaurs to modern birds. The name itself translates as "ancient wing," Archeopteryx is the oldest creature to sport bird-like characteristics.

Only 12 Archeopteryx specimens exist in the record fossil – all of them unedited from the Bavarian town of Solnhofen in southern Germany, notes the National Museum Wales.

Almost all of these fossils were retrieved from a limestone outcrop known as the Solnhofen Formation – with the exception of one specimen. Dubbed the "Daiting specimen," or "specimen number eight," this fossil was dug up from a younger geological deposit called the Mörnsheim Formation and actually postdates the other fossils by roughly half a million years.

This particular specimen is intriguing not only due to its age, but also because it possesses very distinct features from the rest of the world. Archeopteryx fossils.

While the other skeletons – Archeopteryx lithographica – have more in common with dinosaurs than with flying birds, this eighth specimen is actually closer to modern birds in evolutionaries, reports Science Daily.

In fact, the "Daiting specimen" is so different from all the others that they are now describing a completely new species of Archeopteryx.

According to a study published this week in the journal Historical Biology, the fossil exhibits a series of "skeletal innovations" that suggest an evolution from the Solnhofen specimens.

"It possessed skeletal adaptations which would have resulted in much more efficient flight," said study co-author Dr. John Nudds, a researcher at the University of Manchester in the U.K.

Among the different characteristics of the "Daiting specimen" the paper quotes the "fusion and pneumatization of the cranial bones, well vascularized pectoral girdle and wing elements, and a reinforced configuration of carpals and metacarpals," or hand bones.

The discovery was made after paleontologists re-examined Archeopteryx fossil with the help of a cutting-edge technique known as synchrotron microtomography, which enabled them to digitally dissect the skeleton and obtain a 3D X-ray view of its inner structure.

This is the first time that such a procedure was performed on an Archeopteryx fossil – and "was the only way to study the specimen, as it is heavily compressed with many fragments in limestone," stated study lead author Dr. Martin Kundrát, who is affiliated with the University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik in Slovakia and the Evolutionary Biology Center at Uppsala University in Sweden

The new species was given name Archeopteryx albersdoerferi.

"In a nutshell we have discovered what Archeopteryx lithographica evolved into – i.e. a more advanced bird, better adapted to flying Archeopteryx, Explained Nudds.

As he pointed out, the discovery "confirms Archeopteryx as the first bird – and not just one of a number of feathered theropod dinosaurs, which some authors have recently suggested. "

"You could say that it puts' Archeopteryx 'back on its first bird!'