December 1, 2005

Earliest Known Bird Fossil Had Dinosaur Feet






On the other hand, it's second toe could be extended, like those of theropod - beast-footed - dinosaurs, a group that included such well known examples as T. rex.

Archaeopteryx was considerably smaller, however, close to the size of a magpie. The new example lived about 150 million years ago in what is now Bavaria.

Matthew T. Carrano, a dinosaur expert at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, agreed that the discovery supports those who consider birds descendants of dinosaurs.

The lack of a reversed toe doesn't mean an Archaeopteryx couldn't sit in a tree, but probably indicates that it was not a habitually tree-living animal, said Carrano, who was not part of Mayr's team.

"We assume it could fly but we don't have a lot of information about its flying ability," he added.

Most of the known specimens are partial so the new one adds to the knowledge of the animals, Carrano said.


But while the new discovery shows that Archaeopteryx was less birdlike than had been thought, he added, there were a lot of intermediate steps between dinosaurs and birds and this was one of them.

The specimen, discovered in the Solnhofen area of Germany, was acquired by the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, Wyo.


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