Washington: Archaeopteryx, the legendary crow-sized creature long known as the earliest known bird on Earth, may not have been a bird at all, a new study has revealed.
Discovered in 1861 in Germany, two years after Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” it quickly became an icon for evolution and has remained popular since, reports Fox News.
It had wings and feathers, but also quite un-birdlike traits like teeth and a bony tail. Discovered in 1861 in Germany, two years after Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” it quickly became an icon for evolution and has remained popular since.
Chinese scientists are proposing a change to the evolutionary family tree that boots Archaeopteryx off the “bird” branch and onto a closely related branch of birdlike dinosaurs.
They acknowledge they have only weak evidence to support their proposal, which hinges on including a newly recognized dinosaur.
ANI
First Published: Thursday, July 28, 2011, 17:03