Wellnhoferia

Taxobox
name = "Wellnhoferia"
fossil_range = Late Jurassic


image_width = 250px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Archaeopterygiformes
familia = Archaeopterygidae
genus = "Wellnhoferia"
genus_authority = Elżanowski, 2001
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"W. grandis" Elżanowski, 2001 (type)

"Wellnhoferia" is a genus of early prehistoric bird 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."

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") it is currently located at 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", one later study (Mayr "et al." (2007)) found "Wellnhoferia" was a specimen of "Archaeopteryx lithographica". Senter and Robins (2003), however, supported Elżanowski's naming of a new genus.

References

* Elżanowski, A. (2001): "A new genus and species for the largest specimen of "Archaeopteryx". "Acta Palaeontologica Polonica" 46 (4):519–532 [http://app.pan.pl/acta46-4.htm#Elżanowski HTML abstract]

External links

* [http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl The Paleobiology Database] (Search Fossil collection records for taxon name "Wellnhoferia")