 It was discovered in the southern Franconian Jura, "inter alia" at the famous fossil site of Solnhofen in the Solnhofen Platform Limestone ("Solnhofener Plattenkalk", (Solnhofen-Formation, early Tithonian, Upper Jurassic).In addition to "Archaeopteryx", in the very fine-grained, laminated lagoon limestones are the pterosaur "Pterodactylus" and various bony fishes as well as numerous extremely detailed examples of invertebrates e.g.feather stars and dragonflies.