Archaeopteryx lithographica — Archaeopteryx lithographica
Archaeopteryx lithographica Michael Fiegle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 4.0

Bird

Archaeopteryx lithographica

First bird

Archaeopteryx is the feathered Jurassic bird of the Solnhofen Plattenkalk, known from a dozen skeletons and one feather; every specimen is a cultural treasure and the few in private hands are unsaleable in practice. It appears here for reference and for the cast replicas (Berlin, London, Thermopolis) that collectors legitimately own. Any 'Archaeopteryx' offered for sale should be treated as a replica or a fraud until proven otherwise.

PhylumChordata
ClassAves
FamilyArchaeopterygidae
GroupBird
Rank (PBDB)genus· Paleobiology Database
AuthorMeyer 1861· Paleobiology Database
Classification (PBDB)Chordata › Reptilia › NO_ORDER_SPECIFIED › NO_FAMILY_SPECIFIED· Paleobiology Database
Range (PBDB)149–121 Ma· Paleobiology Database
PBDB occurrences10· Paleobiology Database

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Archaeopteryx lithographica" (Taxon). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/taxa/archaeopteryx-lithographica. Accessed 2026-09-20.

@misc{stratum-archaeopteryx-lithographica,
  title        = {Archaeopteryx lithographica},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/taxa/archaeopteryx-lithographica}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Taxon article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, pbdb, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial);Paleobiology Database (CC-BY-4.0);Wikidata (CC0);Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-4.0). As of 2026-09-19; Study pack 2026.09. Data reproduced under the licences shown; text in Stratum's own words unless a section names its source.

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