Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Archaeopterygidae — known from fossils and widely accepted as the earliest and most primitive known bird.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (archaios, "ancient") with πτέρυξ (pterux, "wing").

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Examples

  • Fossils have been found of a feathered dinosaur, known as Archaeopteryx, which is thought to have been a stepping stone between dinosaurs and modern birds.

    Latest News Breaking News and Current News from the UK and World Telegraph 2009

  • Other areas of recent interest have been the ‘necks for sex’ hypothesis, Nick Longrich’s paper on ‘leg-wings’ in Archaeopteryx, and gigantic feral cats.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • Other areas of recent interest have been the ‘necks for sex’ hypothesis, Nick Longrich’s paper on ‘leg-wings’ in Archaeopteryx, and gigantic feral cats.

    Controversial origins of the domestic dog Darren Naish 2006

  • Science via Associated Press Yet the earliest and most primitive bird known is a lizard-like bird called Archaeopteryx, left, discovered in Germany.

    Early 'Birds' 2009

  • Shortly after he published his landmark tome, researchers in Germany discovered the fossil remains of a 150 million-year-old lizard-like bird called Archaeopteryx that combines fully developed feathers with more primitive features of a small carnivorous dinosaur.

    An Ancient Quill Rewrites Dinosaur History 2009

  • In short, Archaeopteryx presumably was not an ancestral bird.

    NYT > Home Page By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD 2011

  • One of the iconic fossils that supports Darwin's theory of evolution is called the Archaeopteryx and it was recently flown out to Stanford University for an unusual test.

    Museum Blogs 2009

  • In September 2006 Longrich argued that that earliest known ancestor of birds, a feathered creature called Archaeopteryx, likely flew with wings on all four limbs after examining fossils originally collected in Germany in 1861.

    Scientific Blogging 2008

  • "Archaeopteryx" sounds like one of those quaint ways of feminizing a job name: like aviatrix for aviator.

    moss asakiyume 2007

  • Why did the Designer made so many “dead ends” such as Archaeopteryx?

    Secondary Addiction, part 3: Ann Coulter on Evolution - The Panda's Thumb 2006

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