ArticleNature communications2018
Wing bone geometry reveals active flight in Archaeopteryx.
Article in Nature communications, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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30 citing papers in PubMed, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Reconstruction of pectoral musculature in non-avialan paravians and basal birds: implications in the acquisition of flapping flight.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Shrinking to bird size with dinosaur-level cancer defences: Evolution of cancer suppression over macroevolutionary time.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Forelimb feathering, soft tissues, and skeleton of the flying dromaeosaurid Microraptor.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
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- The lost long tail of early bird evolution.Nature · 2025Article
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- Toward a Comprehensive Anatomical Matrix for Crown Birds: Phylogenetic Insights from the Pectoral Girdle and Forelimb Skeleton.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Enhanced flight performance and adaptive evolution of Mesozoic giant cicadas.Science advances · 2024Article
- Inferring aerial behavior in Mesozoic dinosaurs: Implications and uncertainties.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The earliest evidence of deep-sea vertebrates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- High-energy synchrotron-radiation-based X-ray micro-tomography enables non-destructive and micro-scale palaeohistological assessment of macro-scale fossil dinosaur bones.Journal of synchrotron radiation · 2023Article
- Reconstructing locomotor ecology of extinct avialans: a case study ofProceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Coracoid strength as an indicator of wing-beat propulsion in birds.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Preserved soft anatomy confirms shoulder-powered upstroke of early theropod flyers, reveals enhanced early pygostylian upstroke, and explains early sternum loss.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Subaqueous foraging among carnivorous dinosaurs.Nature · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Archaeopteryx is an iconic fossil taxon with feathered wings from the Late Jurassic of Germany that occupies a crucial position for understanding the early evolution of avian flight. After over 150 years of study, its mosaic anatomy unifying characters of both non-flying dinosaurs and flying birds has remained challenging to interpret in a locomotory context. Here, we compare new data from three Archaeopteryx specimens obtained through phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography to a representative sample of archosaurs employing a diverse array of locomotory strategies. Our analyses reveal that the architecture of Archaeopteryx's wing bones consistently exhibits a combination of cross-sectional geometric properties uniquely shared with volant birds, particularly those occasionally utilising short-distance flapping. We therefore interpret that Archaeopteryx actively employed wing flapping to take to the air through a more anterodorsally posteroventrally oriented flight stroke than used by modern birds. This unexpected outcome implies that avian powered flight must have originated before the latest Jurassic.
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