Feathered dinosaur hands and feathers, "Archaeopteryx" was quite similar to "Compsognathus". Thus "Archaeopteryx" represents a transitional fossil. In 1868 he published "On the Animals which are most nearly intermediate between Birds and Reptiles", making the case. The first restoration of a feathered dinosaur was Thomas Henry Huxley's depiction in 1876 of a feathered "Compsognathus" to accompany a lecture on the evolution of birds he delivered in New York in which he speculated that the aforementioned dinosaur might have been in possession of feathers. The leading dinosaur expert of the time, Richard Owen, disagreed, claiming "Archaeopteryx" as the first bird outside dinosaur lineage.
Archaeopteryx be given preference over "lithographica" in instances where scientists considered them to represent the same species. It has been noted that the feather, the first specimen of "Archaeopteryx" described, does not correspond well with the flight-related feathers of "Archaeopteryx". It certainly is a flight feather of a contemporary species, but its size and proportions indicate that it may belong to another, smaller species of feathered theropod, of which only this feather is known so far. As the feather had been designated the type specimen, the name "Archaeopteryx" should then no longer be applied to the skeletons, thus creating significant nomenclatorial