Archaeopteryx regains Bird status

June 1, 2013

Fossil creature Archaeopteryx that lived about 150 million years ago is back on its perch. It has again been brought in the class of Birds.
Background:

Archaeopteryx fossil was discovered in 1861 in Germany.
It possessed part-bird, part-reptile traits with broad wings and feathers like a bird, but it also had three-fingered claws, sharp teeth and a long bony tail similar to a dinosaur.
Classified as most primitive bird and as a transition b/w feathered dinosaurs and modern birds.
Some fossil discoveries of feathered dinosaurs in northeastern China over the past two decades have challenged Archaeopteryx’s place in bird evolution.
In July 2012, Chinese scientists excavated Xiaotingia zhengi, a previously unknown chicken-sized dinosaur. They carried out a statistical analysis of its anatomical traits that placed it in a group of bird-like dinosaurs called deinonychosaurs.
Recently an international team led by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences used more sophisticated statistical method to confirm the creature as Bird.

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