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Archaeopteryx is no longer the first bird
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27-07-2011 8:43pm#1It has finally been announced that Archaeopteryx is not the first bird as we were all taught, but rather a non-avian dinosaur within Deinonychosauria.
I'm not surprised at all- for years I've been telling people that there are dinosaurs more similar to birds than Archaeopteryx itself, but still they are considered to be non-avian dinos.
Archaeopteryx looks a lot like a small dromaeosaur to me. It even has the retractable killer-claw.
Anyways, the claim is based on the study of another feathered dinosaur, Xiaotinga, a chicken-sized Archaeopteryx lookalike.
Another article mentions that Archaeopteryx is now included, along with Xiaotinga, within family Archaeopterygidae, which is confusing since recently another paper had re-classiffied Archaeopteryx as a member of the Unenlagiinae (along with Rahonavis, Buitreraptor and gigantic Austroraptor).5
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