[ad_1]
A 150-million-year-old winged beast has been identified as the missing link between dinosaurs and birds.
Archeopteryx albersdoerferi was able to fly thanks to its thin, inflated bones, similar to those of the birds of today.
SWNS: South West News Service
However, it was different from the earlier species of archeopteryx because it had fused bones in the skull and fewer teeth, according to the researchers.
The main author, Professor Martin Kundrat, of the University of Pavol Jozef Safarik, Slovakia, said: "Archeopteryx albersdoerferi is one of the most important specimens of Archeopteryx because it is about 400,000 years younger than everyone else.
"This is the first time that many bones and teeth of Archeopteryx have been seen in all their aspects, including the exposure of their internal structure.Archeopteryx means "old wing". The first fossil skeleton was discovered in Germany in 1861 and is located at the Museum of Natural History in London.
National Geographic Society
Professor Kundrat and his colleagues used a state-of-the-art 3D X-ray scanning technique called synchrotron microtomography to virtually dissect the fossil.
This shows that albersdoerferi was a stepping stone for the evolution of flying dinosaurs into birds.
BLUE VIEW
You can see Uranus TONIGHT without binoculars – here's when, how and why
SKY WATCH
Do you like a full moon? Here's when you can catch the October Hunter's Moon
LOOK URANUS
How to see Uranus at the naked eye as it appears in the night sky
Niceberg!
Mystery of the incredible Mile-Long perfectly rectangular iceberg in Antarctica
MAMMOTH FIND
Road workers discover the remains of a 130,000-year-old woolly mammoth under the A14
The discovery also kills claims that Archeopteryx was only a feathered dinosaur.
The findings come from the analysis of a fossil-sized raven discovered in a German quarry in 1990 and dubbed The Phantom.
Swedish researcher Prof Per Ahlberg said: "He shares more in common with modern birds than their dinosaur ancestors."
[ad_2]
Source link
