Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name, "Urvogel" is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek ἀρχαῖος (archaīos), meaning "ancient", and πτέρυξ (ptéryx), meaning "feather" or "wing". Between the late 19th century and the early 21st century, Archaeopteryx was generally accepted by palaeontologists and popular reference books as the oldest known bird. Older potential avialans have since been identified, including Anchiornis, Xiaotingia, and Aurornis.
The Solnhofen Limestone or Solnhofen Plattenkalk, formally known as the Altmühltal Formation, is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such as sea jellies. The most familiar fossils of the Solnhofen Plattenkalk include the early feathered theropod dinosaur Archaeopteryx preserved in such detail that they are among the most famous and most beautiful fossils in the world. The Solnhofen beds lie in the German state of Bavaria (Bayern), halfway between Nuremberg (Nürnberg) and Munich (München) and were originally quarried as a source of lithographic limestone. The Jura Museum situated in Eichstätt, Germany has an extensive exhibit of Jurassic fossils from the quarries of Solnhofen and surroundings, including marine reptiles, pterosaurs, and one specimen of the early bird Archaeopteryx.
is a Landkreis (district) in the west of Bavaria, Germany with a population of 95,000. Neighbouring districts are Ansbach, Roth, Eichstätt and Donau-Ries. It is located in the south of Middle Franconia, 50 kilometres south of Nuremberg. Largest city and the administrative center is Weißenburg in Bayern.
Compsognathus is a genus of small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. Members of its single species Compsognathus longipes could grow to around the size of a chicken. They lived about 150 million years ago, during the Tithonian age of the late Jurassic period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany in the 1850s and the second in France more than a century later. Today, C. longipes is the only recognized species, although the larger specimen discovered in France in the 1970s was once thought to belong to a separate species and named C. corallestris.
Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley.
Wellnhoferia is a genus of early prehistoric bird-like theropod dinosaur closely related to Archaeopteryx. It lived in what is now Germany, during the Late Jurassic. While Wellnhoferia was similar to Archaeopteryx, it had a shorter tail and its fourth toe was shorter than in Archaeopteryx. Andrzej Elżanowski (2001) of the Institute of Zoology of the University of Wrocław, Poland, determined the differences resulted from a "phylogenetic reduction rather than individual variation."
Trachyteuthis is a genus of extinct octopodiform cephalopods, comprising six species: T. hastiformis, T. latipinnis, T. nusplingensis, T. teudopsiformis, T. covacevichi and T. chilensis.
The Maxberg Museum was a German museum situated in Mörnsheim in the natural park of Altmühltal, near Solnhofen. It was founded by Alphons L. Zehntner in 1929. In 2004 was moved near to the town of Gunzenhausen, with the new name of Fossilien und Steindruck Museum.
Eduard Opitsch was a German quarry owner whose name is associated to a specimen of the prehistoric bird Archaeopteryx, the Maxberg specimen.
The Jura Museum located in Willibaldsburg castle in the town of Eichstätt, Germany, is a natural history museum that has an extensive exhibit of Jurassic fossils from the quarries of Solnhofen and surroundings, including marine reptiles, pterosaurs, and one specimen of the early bird Archaeopteryx. The latest acquisition of the museum is the well preserved skeleton of the coelurosaur Juravenator. The museum also has an aquarium, with several large tanks showing tropical fish and corals, as well as Nautilus.
The Palaeontological Museum in Germany, is a German national natural history museum located in the city of Munich, Bavaria. It is associated with the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. It has a large collection of fossils of animals and plants such as Mesozoic reptiles, early elephants and saber-toothed cats. The paleontological and geological institute which houses the museum is formally called the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology, which itself is one of several institutions which make up the Bavarian Natural History Collections.
Nymphidae, sometimes called split-footed lacewings, are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. There are 35 extant species native to Australia and New Guinea.
Coccoderma is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine coelacanth which lived during the Late Jurassic period. Fossils have been found in Germany and France. It was small in size, about 27.5 cm. They had very long and sharp teeth.
Daitingichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the Late Jurassic period. It contains a single species, D. tischlingeri from the early Tithonian-aged Mörnsheim Formation of the Solnhofen Limestone, Germany. It is thought to be a stem-elopiform, related to modern ladyfish and tarpons.
Aeger elegans is a species of fossil prawn from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk.
Archaeopteryx fossils from the quarries of Solnhofen limestone represent the most famous and well-known fossils from this area. They are highly significant to paleontology and avian evolution in that they document the fossil record's oldest-known birds.
Bellubrunnus is an extinct genus of rhamphorhynchid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic of southern Germany. It contains a single species, Bellubrunnus rothgaengeri. Bellubrunnus is distinguished from other rhamphorhynchids by its lack of long projections on the vertebrae of the tail, fewer teeth in the jaws, and wingtips that curve forward rather than sweep backward as in other pterosaurs.
The Tarsophlebiidae is an extinct family of medium-sized fossil odonates from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous period of Eurasia. They are either the most basal member of the damsel-dragonfly grade ("anisozygopteres") within the stem group of Anisoptera, or the sister group of all Recent odonates. They are characterized by the basally open discoidal cell in both pairs of wings, very long legs, paddle-shaped male cerci, and a hypertrophied ovipositor in females.
The Nusplingen Limestone is a geological formation in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It preserves fossils dating to the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic. It mainly consists of lithographic limestones deposited in a marine basin, similar to the Solnhofen Limestone. Fossils of pterosaurs, thalattosuchians, and the oldest geophilomorph centipede Eogeophilus were found in the Nusplingen Limestone.
Tetrapodophis is an extinct genus of lizard from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) aged Crato Formation of Brazil. It has an elongated snake-like body, with four disproportionately short limbs.