Question

Which of the following is an extinct bird -
A) Psittaciformes
B) Archaeopteryx
C) Pavo cristatus
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Archaeopteryx had a long tail, thecodont teeth on both jaws and feathers on the tail and wings. Skull was more reptilian than avian. Skull or braincase had not expended to accommodate an enlarged brain. The sternum in Archaeopteryx was not well developed.

Complete answer:
Archaeopteryx is a missing link between birds and reptiles prominent in early debates about evolution which was published in Origin of Species. The fossil genus Archaeopteryx possessed both reptiles and birds. Like reptiles, it had a large skull with teeth, bones that weren’t hollow, claws on its forelimbs and long tail. Their strong legs and rounded wings indicated that it glided rather than flew.
Characteristic of Archaeopteryx:
-Archaeopteryx was found in Germany in 1861. It shares many characteristics with both dinosaurs or reptiles and birds.
-Archaeopteryx provides enough evidence that birds arose from dinosaur ancestors.
-Archaeopteryx fossil is considered as transitional fossil which shows clear transition from one species or group to another.
-Archaeopteryx was a crow-sized, bipedal reptile with a blunt snout and having many small, reptilian teeth.
-They are a strong running terrestrial bird that could leap into trees, jump among branches and make the short flight.
-They are capable of gliding, not long sustained flight.
-They could not launch from the ground because it lacked the principle muscles that lift the wing rapidly in the recovery stroke.
-As the furcula is the fused collar bone commonly called the wishbone, can be predicted that Archaeopteryx was birdlike.
-In Archaeopteryx the cervical vertebrae was not saddle shaped at the end that is seen in today’s birds.
-The nostrils were far forward which made Archaeopteryx appear as a reptile.

So, the correct answer is an option B)‘Archaeopteryx.’

Note:
-Birds first appear, unambiguously, in the fossil record in the Jurassic and the first bird is Archaeopteryx.
-Archaeopteryx is immensely important for the theory of evolution that was found only two years after Darwin published Origin of Species.
-The fact is that if the feathers had not been preserved in the fossil, Archaeopteryx probably would have been identified as a small dinosaur.