Archaeopteryx is widely believed to be the first bird to ever live, but it may not have been alone in the skies 150million years ago.
A rival has been found to the famed flying dinosaur as archaeologists uncover the remains of a similar creature which may have even been a better aerial navigator.
It is thought to have been much larger than its more famous cousin but only a single, right-side wing of the bird was preserved.
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The new species is thought to have been much larger than its more famous cousin but only a single, right-side wing of the bird was preserved (pictured)
The birds we see today are thought to be the descendants of carnivorous dinosaurs.
The oldest-known flying member of this lineage is Archaeopteryx, which bore feathered wings, sharp teeth and a long bony tail.
Since its first fossil was found in 1861, Archaeopteryx has been the only bird-like dinosaur known from the Jurassic, the period between 199.6–145.5 million years ago.
However, it now seems this early bird may not have been catching the worm alone.
Palaeontologist Oliver Rauhut of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and University of Fribourg geoscientist Christian Foth have reported the identification of a second bird-like dinosaur from the same period.
The animal, which has been named Alcmonavis poeschli, was unearthed in Schaudiberg quarry, near Mörnsheim, in southern Germany’s Altmühl Valley.
Only a single, right-side wing of the bird was preserved in the fossil, which dates back to around 150 million years ago.
‘At first, we assumed this was another specimen of Archaeopteryx,’ said Professor Rauhut.
‘There are similarities, but after detailed comparisons with Archaeopteryx and other, geologically younger birds, its fossil remains suggested that we were dealing with a somewhat more derived bird,’ he added.
‘This suggests that the diversity of birds in the late Jurassic era was greater than previously thought.’
The birds we see today are thought to be the descendants of carnivorous dinosaurs. The oldest-known flying member of this lineage is Archaeopteryx, which bore feathered wings, sharp teeth and a long bony tail
Archaeopteryx is widely believed to be the first bird to ever live, but it may not have been alone in the skies 150million years ago. An Archaeopteryx fossil was also unearthed from the same limestone unit as the new species, which suggests that the two creatures lived at the same time
An Archaeopteryx fossil was also unearthed from the same limestone unit as the new species, which suggests that the two creatures lived at the same time.
At this time, southern Germany was covered in a shallow, subtropical sea punctuated by of tree-speckled reef islands.
It exhibits many traits that were lacking in Archaeopteryx but can be found in more recent birds — suggesting that it was better adapted to active, flapping-powered flight.
For example, Professor Rauhut said, ‘the wing muscles indicate a greater capacity for flying.’
The discovery has implications for the debate over where birds and their ancestors first developed active flight as an adaptation of gliding
The discovery has implications for the debate over where birds and their ancestors first developed active flight as an adaptation of gliding.
‘Its adaptation shows that the evolution of flight must have progressed relatively quickly,’ said Dr Foth.
‘The origin of birds and their flight has been heavily debated in the field of evolutionary biology since the late nineteenth century,’ said Professor Rauhut.
The newly-discovered fossil species has been named both for Alcmona, the old Celtic word for the river Altmühl and also for its discoverer, Roland Pöschl.
The full findings of the study were published in the journal eLife.
Alcmonavis poeschli , was unearthed in Schaudiberg quarry, near Mörnsheim, in southern Germany’s Altmühl Valley