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.
With the unearthing of several well preserved early bird fossils in the last decades of the 20th century and early 21st century, our knowledge of the evolution of birds has increased dramatically.[1] The evolution of the modern avian traits such as the compact body, clawless wing and the alula are now known to appear over successive stages. Today the Archaeornithes are classified into a series of nested monophyletic groups, and the name is rarely used in modern literature.
^Cite error: The named reference Monastersky was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The Archaeornithes, classically Archæornithes, is an extinct group of the first primitive, reptile-like birds. It is an evolutionary grade of transitional...
Archaeopterygiformes, though the unit was not used as much as Archaeornithes. Due to the popularity of Archaeornithes as well as Archaeopterygidae being recognized as...
proto-mammals, progenitors of mammals) Class Aves (birds) Subclass Archaeornithes (reptile-like birds, progenitors of all other birds) Subclass Enantiornithes...
not much referred to, and when Hans Friedrich Gadow in 1893 erected Archaeornithes for basically the same fossils, this became the common name for the...
would be regarded as transitional fossils between the reptile-like "Archaeornithes" like Archaeopteryx and modern birds. They were described by Romer as...
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