Archaeopteryx
A fossil with feathers, wings, teeth and a bony tail — found two years after Darwin published.
- When
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Jurassic, Mesozoic
Archaeopteryx, about 150 million years old, combines flight feathers and a wishbone with a toothed jaw, clawed fingers and a long bony tail. Discovered in 1861, barely two years after On the Origin of Species, it became the most celebrated transitional fossil ever found and remains the textbook demonstration that birds are dinosaurs. Whether it truly flew or only glided is still argued.