Feathered dinosaur is possible that feathers first developed in an even earlier group, in light of the discovery of pycnofibers of pterosaurs. Crocodilians also possess beta keratin similar to those of birds, which suggests that they evolved from common ancestral genes. Shortly after the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species", British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley proposed that birds were descendants of dinosaurs. He compared the skeletal structure of "Compsognathus", a small theropod dinosaur, and the 'first bird' "Archaeopteryx lithographica" (both of which were found in the Upper Jurassic Bavarian limestone of Solnhofen). He showed that, apart from its
Specimens of Archaeopteryx than flight. Pennaceous feathers thus represent an exaptation and were only later adapted for aerodynamic capabilities, a function that was apparently convergent among different groups within Avialae. In February 2014, the existence of a twelfth specimen was announced from an Altmannstein quarry near the Schamhaupten district of Bavaria. This specimen was unearthed by a private collector in 2010.. Based on a new diagnosis for the genus Archaeopteryx, by the German paleontologist Oliver Rauhut c.s., the Berlin, Eichstätt, Solnhofen, Munich, Daiting, Thermopolis, 11th, and 12th specimens can be referred to this genus with high certainty. Specimens of Archaeopteryx Archaeopteryx fossils from