@ Dr. Heinz Lycklama
What Is/Was Archaeopteryx?
nPaleontologists agree that Archaeopteryx is
not the ancestor of
modern birds
nIts own ancestors are the subject of one of
the most heated controversies in modern science
nIt is not only regarded as the world’s most
beautiful fossil, but has become a powerful icon of the evolutionary process itself.
nIn 1982, Ernst Mayr, a Harvard neo-Darwinist,
called Archaeopteryx “the almost perfect link between reptiles and birds.”
nHowever, too many structural differences were
identified between Archaeopteryx and modern birds for modern birds to be descendants of the Archaeopteryx.