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 for the last four decades." The meeting produced a festschrift in
Specimens of Archaeopteryx Justice in Karlsruhe, which upheld the Superior District Court's decision in 2003, bringing a 14-year lawsuit to a close and earning the sixth "Archaeopteryx" specimen its name of Solnhofen. The Solnhofen specimen represents the largest "Archaeopteryx" individual known. It is represented by a nearly-complete skeleton on a plate sized 39 x 52 cm. There is no counterslab associated with this specimen. The skeleton shows a death posture typical of theropods and especially similar to that of the Eichstätt specimen. The animal's carcass was likely deposited and buried completely articulated. Despite the specimen's skeletal completion, plumage traces are very faint and