NEW YORK (AP) - One of the world's most-famous fossil creatures, widely considered the earliest known bird, is getting a rude present on the 150th birthday of its discovery: A new analysis suggests it isn't a bird at all.
NEW YORK (AP) — One of the world’s most-famous fossil creatures, widely considered the earliest known bird, is getting a rude present on the 150th birthday of its discovery: A new analysis suggests it isn’t a bird at all.
Chinese scientists are proposing a change to the evolutionary family tree that boots Archaeopteryx off the “bird” branch and onto a closely related branch of birdlike dinosaurs.
Archaeopteryx was a crow-sized creature that lived about 150 million years ago. It had wings and feathers, but also teeth and a bony tail. Discovered in 1861 in Germany, it quickly became an icon for evolution.
The Chinese scientists acknowledge they have only weak evidence to support their proposal, which hinges on including a newly recognized dinosaur.
Other experts say the change could easily be reversed by further discoveries.
Archaeopteryx dwells in a section of the family tree that’s been reshuffled repeatedly over the past 15 or 20 years and still remains murky. Fossil discoveries have blurred the distinction between dinosaurlike birds and birdlike dinosaurs, with traits such as feathers and wishbones no longer seen as reliable guides.
“Birds have been so embedded within this group of small dinosaurs ... it’s very difficult to tell who is who,” said Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University, who studies early bird evolution but didn’t participate in the new study.
The new analysis is presented in today’s issue of the journal Nature.