Archaeopteryx Is The Earliest Dinosaur Also Classified As A Bird, And It Has Some Bizarre Features

In the skull of Archaeopteryx, researchers uncovered new features that may have helped the ancient creature obtain and process food more efficiently, giving it the energy and strength to fly.

Archaeopteryx is the earliest dinosaur that scientists also classify as a bird. It lived about 150 million years ago in what is now southern Germany.

It had a toothed beak, feathered wings for gliding and flying in short bursts, and hooked claws for climbing and grabbing. The bird was roughly the size of a raven.

It was also the first fossil evidence of bird evolution, representing the transition between birds and dinosaurs, so it is considered to be rather iconic.

"Archaeopteryx is the oldest dinosaur that we know of to fly using feathered airfoils," said Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago.

"Because flying takes more energy than walking or running or swimming, then it should have features associated with more efficient feeding."

The research team used X-ray scans and ultraviolet images to analyze the bird's mouth. They saw three new features. The recently discovered features are absent in nonflying dinosaurs but widespread in currently existing birds.

One of them was a tiny tongue bone that made the tongue more maneuverable. It was similar to those found in modern birds. The researchers also identified a series of bumps on the roof of the mouth known as oral papillae, firm and fleshy cones that help with ingesting food.

Lastly, the team detected openings near the tip of the jaw. They may have once contained nerves that were likely part of a bill-tip organ seen in modern birds that aids in foraging for food.

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Archaeopteryx was first discovered in 1861. So far, scientists have examined 14 body fossils. All Archaeopteryx fossils hail from southern Germany, particularly the Solnhofen Limestone formation. It was formed from mud during a time when the area was mostly a shallow sea and islands.

For decades, the newly studied fossil was passed through the hands of different private collectors before it was acquired by the Field Museum in 2022.

"The fossil was unprepared—meaning it was still mostly encased in rock—making the innards of the acquisition a mystery," said O'Connor.

"I remember telling the president of the Field Museum...it's not going to be the best Archaeopteryx, but it's not going to be the worst Archaeopteryx. It actually turned out to be the best Archaeopteryx of them all."

Research on birds like Archaeopteryx can add to our understanding of why they are the only dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction event 66 million years ago.

More work is needed to determine whether the new mouth features in the Archaeopteryx specimen are related to flight development.

The findings were published in The Innovation.