New Protarchaeopteryx specimens found

Jeff Poling

New Scientist reports the discovery of two new specimens of Protarchaeopteryx robusta. This animal is considered to be more primitive than Archaeopteryx (hence the name "first ancient-wing") with a body form even closer to those of non-avian theropods than Archaeopteryx's. Like Archaeopteryx, the Protarchaeopteryx specimens were found with feather impressions. The best preserved of the newest specimens definitively shows feathers attached to the front leg and tail. Unlike Archaeopteryx, however, Protarchaeopteryx's feathers are symmetrical, indicating that Protarchaeopteryx may not have been able to fly.

Protarchaeopteryx was discovered in the same locality that produced Liaoningornis, the oldest "modern" bird, Confuciusornis, the oldest known toothless bird, and Sinosauropteryx, a compsognathid dinosaur preserved with what may have been feathers or protofeathers. The locality, near Liaoning, China, preserves a lake environment in a fine layer of ash, perhaps produced by a catastrophic volcanic eruption that instantaneously covered and preserved the area. The age of the deposit is disputed, but radiometric dating dates the site to 128ma to 110ma, the early to mid Cretaceous.