English

a model of an archæopteryx on display at the Natural History Museum of Geneva

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• archaeopteryx, archaiopteryx, archæopteryx

Noun

archeopteryx ‎(plural archeopteryxes)

1. A specimen of the species Archaeopteryx lithographica, being the earliest and most primitive known bird, representing a transition in the evolution of dinosaurs to birds.^[1]
   • 1935, Zoological Society of London, Proceedings, page 758:

     Since Pterosaurians are triassic and the Archæopteryges jurassic we are justified in regarding the actual chronology of external integument in the geological strata as : first, scale ; second, hair ; and third, feather. This inspires us to make a wider appeal to geology in order to have a comprehensive sketch of the avian sequence.

Translations

References

1. 1 2 3 “‖archæopteryx” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]