Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ARCHAEOPTERYX

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 356 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

ARCHAEOPTERYX . The name of Archaeopteryx lithographica was based by See also:

Hermann vnMeyeruponafeather(Gr.rrrEpvE,wing) found in 1861 in the lithographic See also:slate quarries of Solenhofen in See also:Bavaria, the See also:geological See also:horizon being that of the himmeridge See also:clay of the Upper Orlite or See also:Jurassic See also:system. In the same See also:year and at the same See also:place was discovered the specimen (See also:figs. 1 and 3) value of by the See also:relics themselves and by their relation to See also:ethnology. now in the See also:British Museum, named by Andreas See also:Wagner Griphosaurus. See also:Sir R. See also:Owen has described it as A. ,nzacroura. Stimulated by the high See also:price paid by the British Museum, the See also:quarry owners diligently searched, and in 1872 another, much finer, preserved specimen was found. This was bought by K. W. v.

See also:

Siemens, who presented it to the See also:Berlin Museum. The See also:late W. Dames has written an excellent monograph on it. Archaeopteryx was a See also:bird, without any doubt, but still with so many See also:low, essentially reptilian characters that it forms a See also:link between these two classes. About the See also:size of a See also:rook, its most After a photograph taken from a See also:cast. obvious peculiarity is the See also:long reptilian tail, composed of 20 vertebrae and not ending in a pygostyle. The last dozen vertebrae each carry a pair of well-See also:developed typical quills. Upon these features of the tail E. See also:Haeckel established the subclass Saururae, containing solely Archaeopteryx, in opposition to the Ornithurae, comprising all the other birds. Herein he has been followed by many zoologists. However, the fact that various See also:recent birds possess the same See also:kind of caudal See also:skeleton, likewise without a pygostyle, although reduced to at least 13 vertebrae, shows that the two terms do not See also:express a fundamental difference. The importance of Archaeopteryx justifies the following descriptive detail.

Vertebral See also:

column composed of about 50 vertebrae, viz. 10-11 cervical, 12-11 thoracic, 2 lumbar, 5-6 sacral, and 20 or 21 caudal, with a See also:total caudal length of the Berlin specimen of 7 in. The cervical and thoracic vertebrae seem to be biconcave; the cervical ribs are much reduced and were apparently still movable; the thoracic ribs are devoid of uncinate processes. Paired abdominal ribs are doubtful. Scarcely anything is known of the sternum, and little of the See also:shoulder-See also:girdle, except the very stout furcula; scapula typically bird-like. Humerus about 2 z in. long, with a strong crista lateralis, which indicates a strongly developed See also:great See also:pectoral muscle and hence, by inference, the presence of a See also:keel to the sternum. See also:Radius and ulna typically avine, 2.1 in. in length. Carpus with two See also:separate bones. The See also:hand skeleton consists of 3 completely separate metacarpals, each carrying a See also:corn- plete, likewise See also:free, See also:finger; the shortened thumb with 2, the See also:index with 3, the third with 4 phalanges; each finger with a curved claw. The whole wing is consequently, although essentially avine, still reptilian in the unfused See also:state of the metacarpals and the See also:numbers of the phalanges. The See also:pelvis is imperfectly known. The preacetabular portion of the ilium is shorter than the posterior See also:half.

The See also:

hind-See also:limb is typically avine, with intertarsal See also:joint, distally reduced fibula, and the three elongated metatarsals which show already considerable anchylosis; reduction of the toes to four, with 2, 3, 4 and 5 phalanges; the hallux is separate, and as usual in recent birds posterior in position. See also:Skull bird-like, except that the See also:short See also:bill cannot have been enclosed in a horny rhamphotheca, since the upper See also:jaw shows a See also:row of 13, the See also:lower jaw 3 conical See also:teeth, all implanted in distinct sockets. The remiges and rectrices indicate perfect feathers, with See also:shaft and See also:complete vanes which were so neatly finished that they must have possessed typical radii and booklets. Some of the quills measure fully 5 in. in length. Six or seven remiges were attached to the hand, ten to the ulna. It is idle to speculate on the habits of this earliest of known birds. That it could See also:fly is certain, and the feet show it to have pli ~ See also:Ill' OjI been well adapted to arboreal See also:life. The clawed slender fingers did not make Archaeopteryx any more quadrupedal or See also:bat-like in its habits than is a See also:kestrel See also:hawk, with its equally large, or even larger thumb-claw. p. 679; Sir R. Owen, " On the Archaeopteryx von See also:Meyer . . " Phil.

Trans., 1863, PP. 33-47, pls. i.-iv. ; T. H. See also:

Huxley, " Remarks on the Skeleton of the Archaeopteryx and on the relations of the bird to the reptile," Geol. See also:Hag. i., 1864, pp. 55-57 ; C. See also:Vogt, " L'Archaeo- pteryx macrura," Revue scient. de la See also:France et de l'etranger, 1879, pp. 241-248; W. Dames, " Uber Archaeopteryx," Palaeontol. Abhandl. ii. (Berlin, 1884) ; Idem, " Uber Brustbein Schulter- and Beckengurtel der Archaeopteryx," Math. naturw.

Mitth. Berlin. Vii. (1897), pp. 476-492. (H. F. G.) • ARCHAISM (adj. " archaic "; from Gr. apxaZos, old), an old-fashioned usage, or the deliberate employment of an out-of-date and See also:

ancient mode of expression.

End of Article: ARCHAEOPTERYX

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ARCHAEOLOGY OF CENTRAL 		[next]
ARCHANGEL (ARCHANGELSK)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries