Archaeornithes
Sign in to saveAlso known as Archæornithes
300px|thumb|Painting of Archaeopteryx by [[Heinrich Harder, from around 1916]] The Archaeornithes, classically Archæornithes, is an extinct group of the first primitive, reptile-like birds. It is an evolutionary grade of transitional fossils, the primitive birds halfway between non-avian dinosaur ancestors and the derived modern birds (avian dinosaur).
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, Archaeornithes is referenced by 232 other articles, and connects out to Alvarezsauridae, bird and Archaeopteryx.
It sits within the topics Paraphyletic groups, Paraves and Vertebrate subclasses.
Its subject is documented across 10 Wikipedia language editions.
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Classification
- See also
- References
- External links
300px|thumb|Painting of Archaeopteryx by [[Heinrich Harder, from around 1916]] The Archaeornithes, classically Archæornithes, is an extinct group of the first primitive, reptile-like birds. It is an evolutionary grade of transitional fossils, the primitive birds halfway between non-avian dinosaur ancestors and the derived modern birds (avian dinosaur).
Fossils of early birds were poorly known until the late 20th century. Of those known, all fell into either the relatively modernly built birds with fused ribcage and the breastbone extended into a keel, or the "Urvogels" of the Solnhofen Plattenkalk of late Jurassic age. As the physiological and anatomical difference between the two was so great, the subclass Archaeornithes was erected for the latter.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Archaeornithes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.