Wellnhoferia

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Wellnhoferia
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 150  Ma
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Eichstatt Wellnhoferia grandis.jpg
The type specimen
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family:† Archaeopterygidae
Genus:† Wellnhoferia
Elżanowski, 2001
Type species
†Wellnhoferia grandis
Elżanowski, 2001

Wellnhoferia (named after Peter Wellnhofer) is a genus of early prehistoric bird-like theropod dinosaur closely related to Archaeopteryx . It is known from a single species, W. grandis, that 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 that of 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." [1]

Taxonomy

Wellnhoferia (orange) and seven specimens of Archaeopteryx compared to a human in scale Archiesizeall1.svg
Wellnhoferia (orange) and seven specimens of Archaeopteryx compared to a human in scale

The type specimen is the Solnhofen Specimen of Archaeopteryx (BSP 1999). Discovered in the 1960s near Eichstätt, Germany and described in 1988 by Wellnhofer (as a specimen of Archaeopteryx), [2] it is now in the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum in Solnhofen. It was originally classified as a Compsognathus by an amateur collector.

Although Elżanowski found significant differences between Wellnhoferia and Archaeopteryx, a 2007 study by Mayr et al. [3] found Wellnhoferia was a specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica. Senter and Robins (2003), however, supported Elżanowski's naming of a new genus. [4]

References

  1. ↑ Elżanowski, Andrzej (2001). "A new genus and species for the largest specimen of Archaeopteryx" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 46 (4): 519–532.
  2. ↑ Wellnhofer, Peter (1988). "A New Specimen of Archaeopteryx". Science. 240 (4860): 1790. Bibcode:1988Sci...240.1790W. doi:10.1126/science.240.4860.1790. PMID   17842432. S2CID   32015255.
  3. ↑ Mayr, Gerald; Pohl, Burkhard; Hartman, Scott; Peters, D. Stefan (2007). "The tenth skeletal specimen of Archaeopteryx" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 149 (1): 97–116. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00245.x .[ dead link ]
  4. ↑ Senter, Phil; Robins, James H. (2003). "Taxonomic status of the specimens of". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 23 (4): 961–965. doi:10.1671/22. S2CID   85067334.
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