A paper published earlier this week in BMC Evolutionary biology suggests that one of only 12 known Archaeopteryx fossil skeletons is not in fact an Archaeopteryx at all but a new species of theropod dinosaur, Ostromia crassipes.One Dutch newspaper, perhaps over-egging it slightly, went as far as likening the discovery to finding out that your Monet painting turned out to be a Van Gogh. So what is Archaeopteryx and why has this paper got palaeontologists (a bit) excited?
What is Archaeopteryx?
You will find a cast of Archaeopteryx or two, or a model reconstruction in almost every natural history museum and Archaeopteryx is, quite rightly, described in the new paper as an iconic fossil. However, from personal experience in talking to museum visitors, it is not an extinct animal that many people are familiar with, being not quite on the same tier of recognisability as large dinosaurs.
First described in 1861, Archaeopteryx lithographica was the species name given =read more
No comments:
Post a Comment