Peter Wellnhofer his honor titled "Flugsaurier: pterosaur papers in honour of Peter Wellnhofer". Peter Wellnhofer Peter Wellnhofer (born Munich, 1936) is a German paleontologist at the "Bayerische Staatssammlung fur Paläontologie" in Munich. He is best known for his work on the various fossil specimens of "Archaeopteryx" or "Urvogel", the first known bird. Wellnhofer's other work includes "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs". "Wellnhoferia", a bird closely related to "Archaeopteryx", or a species of the Urvogel itself, was named in his honor. In 2007 a special meeting of pterosaur experts in Munich was dedicated to Wellnhofer, describing him as "the foremost authority on pterosaurs
Specimens of Archaeopteryx suggest that it had some black colouration which included the coverts (or possibly the secondary remiges). Carney pointed out that this is consistent with what we know of modern flight characteristics, in that black melanosomes have structural properties that strengthen feathers for flight. The preservation of the fossil feather is unusual. In contrast to the feather imprints found on the full skeletons of "Archaeopteryx", the isolated feather is preserved as a dark film, which could be composed either of organic matter (as in most fossil feathers) or as inorganic minerals. Though it is theoretically possible to determine which it is,