Archaeornithes now thought to represent a single species, "Archaeopteryx lithographica", the "Archaeornis" being the Berlin specimen of "Archaeopteryx". While rarely used by palaenthologists today, the term was revived by the ornithologists Livezey and Zusi in 2007, for a group comprising Archaeopterygidae and the Confuciusornithidae. Archaeornithes The Archaeornithes, classically Archæornithes, is an extinct group of the first primitive, reptile-like birds. It is an evolutionary grade of transitional fossils, the primitive birds halfway between non avian dinosaur ancestors and the derived modern birds (avian dinosaur). Fossils of early birds were poorly known until the late 20th century. Of those known, all fell into
Specimens of Archaeopteryx ähnlichen Federn bedeckten "" ("skeleton of an animal covered in similar feathers"). In German, this ambiguity is resolved by the term "Schwinge" which does not necessarily mean a wing used for flying. "Urschwinge" was the favored translation of "Archaeopteryx" among German scholars in the late 19th century. In English, "ancient pinion" offers a rough approximation. Hermann von Meyer learned of the discovery of what would later be known as the London Specimen before he published his analysis of the single "Archaeopteryx" feather. In September 1861 he wrote to the "Neues Jahrbuch" about being informed of the discovery by Friedrich Ernst