Talk:Archaeopteryx

Birn-Jeffery et al. (2012)

Birn-Jeffery, A. V., Miller, C. E., Naish, D., Rayfield, E. J., Hone, D. W. E. (2012) Pedal claw curvature in birds, lizards and Mesozoic dinosaurs – complicated categories and compensating for mass-specific and phylogenetic control. PLoS ONE 7(12): e50555.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2012/12/17/claws-climbing-in-birds-other-dinosaurs/

Greek name

Archaios in Greek means ‘original’ or ‘from the beginning’; arche being the beginning/origin. It is nothing literally to do with ancient, that’s just a deduction. It is the winged creature that was there first. The ‘original-winged’ if you will. 2A01:C22:B8C8:2F00:FDF1:55C:EE00:A394 (talk) 07:32, 8 July 2022 (UTC)

Spelling Variation

It seems all of the -ise/-ize words in this article are spelt -ize, since this isn't usually normal British spelling (except oxford spelling) should all of these be changed to -ise or left as -ize? If left as -ize I think there should be a tag saying to use Oxford spelling instead of British english to be clearer. Ertoe (talk) 04:34, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Ize is consistent with UK English (Oxford is within the sphere of UK English), both versions can be used. Of course, if "ize" is the version used, it is just important that it's internally consistent, which it seems to be. But I see both "colour" and "color", "center" instead of "centre", etc. FunkMonk (talk) 10:21, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Digits on birds' forewings are rather common on extinct birds

The article states, "Archaeopteryx had three separate digits on each fore-leg each ending with a "claw". Few birds have such features," and then mentions a few contemporary birds that have a more noticeable vestigial claw underneath their wings. Perhaps it's worth adding that this ancestral wing configuration with actual separate digits and claws (no need for quotes on claws, by the way, suggests they're not quite claws) was retained in many uncontested birds that are extinct now, perhaps all enantiornithes. ("All known enantiornithines were good fliers. The early Cretaceous enantiornithines had toothed jaws, and late Cretaceous ones did not. All enantiornithines had wing digits with claws." -- quote from the article I linked). Wikipedia's own article on the group states they're "the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era." 45.234.133.177 (talk) 08:07, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

The secondary flightlessness hypothesis may be relevant to mention here

The article mentions that some researchers have found A. to be nested within Deinonychosaurs "and therefore not a bird," but not that long ago other researchers had sort of found the "opposite," Deinonychosaurs nested as a sister group to Archaeopteryx, and therefore possibly/arguably flightless birds. Some have also posited that perhaps juvenile Deinonychosaurs could fly. So, perhaps that's suggestive of something somewhat blurrier. A more recent study (2019) mentioned in the Origin of Birds article, "secondary flightlessness section," also puts Archaeopteryx closer to birds than to Deinonychosaurs. 45.234.133.177 (talk) 08:33, 17 October 2023 (UTC)