Archaeopteryx lithographica

Stone-Written Ancient Wing

Archaeopteryx lithographica
(von Meyer, 1861)

When feathered coelurosaurs migrated from Asia to the European Islands in the middle Jurassic, they had already diversified into a number of distinct groups. One of these groups, possessing the physiology necessary for powered flight, radiated into still more species. Aided in their dispersion by their power of flight, these dinosaurs (the birds) spread quickly over the islands of northern Europe and became very successful there. One of these birds, the most famous of them all, is Archaeopteryx lithographica.

A. lithographica ranges across a large group of semiarid islands on the northern portion of the Tethys Sea, in what will one day become Europe. This European archipelago is home to many archosaurs, such as Compsognathus longipes , a relative of A. lithographica, and many pterosaurs, flying archosaurus much more common than, and only distantly related to, birds like Archaeopteryx.

A. lithographica is a crow-sized seabird, a long-legged, long-armed jack-of-all trades large (if not powerful) wings, a long, counterbalancing tail, and a mouth filled with tiny, conical teeth. With this dentition and wings that function as well under water as above it, A. lithographica is an competent fisher, although it is by no means restricted to the water for its food. , A. lithographica eats any protein it can catch; mammals, lizards, insects, and fish are all welcome nourishment for this opportunistic hunter.

Thanks to Martin Barnett for general helpfulness and to Ray Stanford, or cource.

Other sites containing pertinent information:

Jeff Poling's articles
- Archaeopteryx and the Solnhofen Lagoon (a good study of Solnhofen as an ecosystem, compaired to similar modern ecosystems)
- Archaeopteryx's Relationship With Modern Birds
- Dinosaurian Synapomorphies Found In Archaeopteryx
- Dromaeosaurid Archaeopteryx (by Gregory S. Paul!)
- How Archaeopteryx May Have Used Its Wings
- More On The Dino-bird Link
- Use of Feathers By Archaeopteryx
T. Mike Keesey's Archaeopteryx page (with many, many pictures and good information)
Shiraishi Mineo 's Archaeopteryx picture
The Russian Dinosaur exposition's Archaeopteryx
The voluminous All About Archaeopteryx
Dinosaur Mailing list
Luis Rey's Archaeopteryx lithographica
The Daily-tangent's Archaeopteryx a great reference about Archeaopteryx
Samuel Barnett's picture Archaeopteryx lithographica
DinoData's Archaeopteryx page
Gregory Paul's (!) Archaeopteryx skeletal reconstruction. (click on "Guest Access")
Ilja Nieuwland's Archaeopteryx pages (with some very nice Gerhard Heilmann information)
Archaeopteryx model
Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, a Complete Illustrated Guide , by Gregory S. Paul, published in 1988 by Simon and Schuster.
The Rise of Birds, by Sankar Chatterjee, published in 1997 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dinosaurs of the Air, by Gregory S. Paul, published in 2002 by Johns Hopkins University Press.

� Daniel Bensen 2001
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