Some 150 million years ago in what is now Northern Bavaria, Archaeopteryx<\/em> \u2013 the oldest bird species yet discovered \u00ad\u2013 inhabited a subtropical environment characterized by reef islands and lagoons set in a shallow sea that was part of the primordial Mediterranean. All the specimens of Archaeopteryx so far recovered were found in the valley of the Altm\u00fchl River, in geological settings that represent this habitat \u00ad\u2013 the Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago. The latest find was made there in 2010, and this new specimen has now been analyzed by a team of researchers led by LMU\/SNSB paleontologist Oliver Rauhut, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences who is also affiliated with the Bavarian State Collections for Paleontology and Geology in Munich. Stratigraphic analysis of the find locality reveals that the fossil is the oldest known representative of the genus Archaeopteryx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSpecimens of Archaeopteryx<\/em> are now known from three distinct rock units, which together cover a period of approximately 1 million years,\u201d Rauhut explains. Notably, the oldest example exhibits features that were so far not known from the other specimens. \u201cAmong other things, they reveal that Archaeopteryx<\/em> was very similar to advanced predatory dinosaurs in many respects,\u201d says Rauhut. Moreover, in the new study, he and his colleagues provide a diagnosis that allows to reliably distinguish Archaeopteryx<\/em> from its closest relatives, both non-avialan theropod dinosaurs and basal birds. This key will be very valuable, as a whole series of bird-like predatory dinosaurs has been described in recent years, mainly from China, which has greatly complicated the taxonomical classification of the group. Publication:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oliver Rauhut, Christian Foth and Helmut Tischlinger: The oldest Archaeopteryx<\/em> (Theropoda: Avialiae): a new specimen from the Kimmeridgian\/Tithonian boundary of Schamhaupten, Bavaria. In: PeerJ 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new specimen is the 12th fossil to be attributed to the genus. However, in a study published in the online journal BMC Evolutionary Biology last year, Rauhut\u2019s group reported that the first of these to come to light \u00ad\u2013 the so-called Haarlem specimen discovered in 1861 \u2013 does not actually belong to the group. This result thus reduces the number of Archaeopteryx<\/em> fossils to 11, although some doubts remain concerning the assignment of two of these. This underlines the necessity for a diagnosis to clearly identify Archaeopteryx<\/em>.
Moreover, the investigation of the 11th specimen demonstrates that the known specimens span a remarkable range of anatomical variation. Potential explanations for the broad spectrum of variation extend from intraspecific developmental polymorphism to evolutionary differentiation, i.e., the possibility that the fossil material so far recovered represents more than one species. \u201cThe high degree of variation in the teeth is particularly striking \u2013 none of the specimens shows the same pattern of dentition as any other, which could reflect differences in diet,\u201d Rauhut points out. \u201cThis is very reminiscent of the famous case of Darwin\u2019s finks on the Galapagos, which show remarkable variation in their beak shapes. It is even conceivable that this primeval bird genus might, in a similar fashion, have diversified into several specialized forms on the islands of the Solnhofener Archipelago. In that case, the Archaeopteryx<\/em> fossils could represent a species flock, a Jurassic analog of Darwin\u2019s finches.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/snsb.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/d6eacf4f.jpg\")