Archaeopteryx

ancient wing (or ancient feather)

• archaios · Greek · ancient
• pteryx · Greek · wing, feather

The name combines the Greek words for "ancient" and "wing" or "feather". Hermann von Meyer chose it in 1861 for a single fossil feather from the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, and the name was soon applied to the first skeletons with feather impressions. It refers to the animal's status as an ancient winged, feathered creature.

Named by

von Meyer

Year named

1861

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Tithonian

Found in

Solnhofen Limestone, Bavaria, Germany

A small feathered theropod, long treated as the earliest known bird. Its exact position is debated, and some analyses place it among deinonychosaurs rather than birds. The type species is Archaeopteryx lithographica.