Question

'Connecting link' between reptiles and birds is
A. Dodo
B. Archaeopteryx
C. Rhea
D. Sphenodon

Answer 1

Hint: Birds share many features with reptiles such as being vertebrate, having scales on parts of their bodies, and laying shell-shaped amniotic eggs.

Complete Answer:
1) The dodo is an island-born, extinct flightless bird, The nearest genetic ancestor to the dodo was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire, the two forming the pigeon and dove family subfamily Raphinae.
2) Archaeopteryx often referred to by its German name, Urvogel, is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs that is intermediate between non-avian feathered dinosaurs and modern birds.
3) In the order Rheiformes, native to South America, the rheas are huge ratites that are distantly related to ostrich and emu.
Two known species are recognised by most taxonomic authorities: the larger or American rhea and the lesser rhea, or Darwin.
4) The IUCN lists the puna rhea as a distinct species. Sphenodon or hatteria is the last survivor of the reptilian order Rhynchocephalia, which formed about 200 million years ago in the early Mesozoic period but is now survived by only two species found on the islands off the coast of New Zealand and in Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellington, New Zealand.

The Vertebrates belong to the reptiles and the aves. Archaeopteryx is a link between reptiles and birds since it has both bird and reptile characteristics. Archaeopteryx had a long tail, teeth in jaws, long neck with cervical vertebrae, these are all reptilian characters. It had wings and beak, much like birds. Has been warm-blooded.

So the answer is Option ‘B’ Archaeopteryx.

Note: Archaeopteryx is known to interact with reptiles and animals, since it looks like a bird and has bird wings. Although the teeth and ears are similar to reptile ones. Since that means birds also evolved from reptiles. So Archaeopteryx binds reptiles and animals.