Archaeopterygidae

Archaeopterygids Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 160–148.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Family:	†Archaeopterygidae Huxley, 1871
Type species
†Archaeopteryx lithographica von Meyer, 1861
Genera
†Archaeopteryx †Wellnhoferia

The Archaeopterygidae is a group of maniraptoran dinosaurs that lived during the late Jurassic and period.

Taxonomy

Fossil specimen of Wellnhoferia grandis

The order Archaeopterygiformes was coined by Max Fürbringer in 1888 to contain the single family Archaeopterygidae and genus Archaeopteryx. While neither the order has never been given a formal phylogenetic definition, a definition for Archaeopterygidae was given by Xu and colleagues in 2011: the clade comprising all birds closer to Archaeopteryx than to the House Sparrow or Dromaeosaurus.

The family Dromaeosauridae, traditionally considered to be non-avian dinosaurs, have been included in this group by at least one author. Discoveries of a number of primitive forms have muddied the relationships of early birds, making it possible that Velociraptor and similar dinosaurs could be considered birds. Palaeoartist Gregory S. Paul placed dromaeosaurids in Archaeopterygiformes for these reasons, though the eventual cladistic definition of Archaeopterygidae explicitly excluded them.

As its name suggests, Protarchaeopteryx was also originally referred to this group, but most paleontologists now consider it an oviraptorosaur. Other referred genera, like Jurapteryx, Wellnhoferia, and Proornis, are probably synonymous with Archaeopteryx (the former two) or do not belong into this group (the last). Jinfengopteryx was originally described as an archaeopterygid, though it was later shown to be a troodontid. Some recent studies have recovered Anchiornis, previously considered a troodontid, and Xiaotingia, to also be members of the Archaeopterygidae.