Archaeopteryx Definition

ärkē-ŏptər-ĭks
noun
A small extinct vertebrate of the genus Archaeopteryx of the Jurassic Period, having feathered wings with claws and a long toothed snout. It has been classified variously as a prehistoric bird and as a theropod dinosaur.
American Heritage
A reptilian bird (genus Archaeopteryx) of the Jurassic Period, that had teeth and feathers, a lizardlike tail, and well-developed wings.
Webster's New World
Alternative spelling of archæopteryx.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
pronoun

A taxonomic genus within the family Archaeopterygidae — known from fossils and widely accepted as the earliest and most primitive known bird.

Wiktionary

Origin of Archaeopteryx

  • New Latin Archaeopteryx genus name archaeo– Greek pterux wing pet- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (archaios, “ancient”) with πτέρυξ (pterux, “wing”).

    From Wiktionary

Archaeopteryx Sentence Examples

  • The importance of Archaeopteryx justifies the following descriptive detail.

  • Huxley, "Remarks on the Skeleton of the Archaeopteryx and on the relations of the bird to the reptile," Geol.

  • Such a pygostyle is absent in Archaeopteryx, Hesperornis, Tinami and Ratitae, but it occurs individually in old specimens of the ostrich and the kiwi.

  • Marsh states that he had fully satisfied himself that Archaeopteryx belonged to the Odontornithes, which he thought it advisable for the present to regard as a subclass, separated into three orders - Odontolcae, Odontotormae and Saururae - all well marked, but evidently not of equal rank, the last being clearly much more widely distinguished from the first two than they are from one another.

  • Reduction of the number of toes (the fifth shows no traces whatever, not even in Archaeopteryx) begins with the hallux, which is completely or partly absent in many birds; the second toe is absent in Struthio only.

More Sentences

Related Articles

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to archaeopteryx using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

AARARC

Words Ending With

XYXRYX

Unscrambles

archaeopteryx

Words Starting With A and Ending With X

Starts With A & Ends With XStarts With AR & Ends With XStarts With A & Ends With YX

Word Length

13 Letter Words13 Letter Words Starting With A13 Letter Words Ending With X