The most complete Berlin specimen of an Archaeopteryx fossil, showing feather impressions. Photo: Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
For the first time, a fossil of the iconic early bird Archaeopteryx has been described that was found by a Dutch person: Jonathan Wallaard, curator of Het Oertijdmuseum in Boxtel.
It is official. The fossilised skeletal remains that Dutch palaeontologist and curator Jonathan Wallaard of Het Oertijdmuseum in Boxtel discovered in May 2019 at a German quarry near Mühlheim belong to the early bird Archaeopteryx. Wallaard and an international team of experts publish their findings on 3 January in Fossil Record. It is the fourteenth specimen of this iconic early bird to be found, and the first with a Dutch discoverer. Archaeopteryx is still regarded as an evolutionary link (a ‘missing link’) between the earliest birds (Euavialae) and the dinosaurs.
INDESCRIBABLE
‘The moment you hold that piece in your hands is indescribable’, Wallaard told local television channel DTV Nieuws on 6 January. ‘I was searching for possible fossils in southern Germany together with my father. I found this fossil fairly quickly, but I didn’t immediately realise it was a primitive bird.’ The find consists of remains from the Late Jurassic, approximately 150–145 million years old, preserved in several fragments of lithographic limestone: the right forelimb, right shoulder, and parts of the left forelimb and both hindlimbs. No feather impressions were found. Given the condition of the remains and the difficulty of taxonomy at species level, identification was only possible to the genus Archaeopteryx.
Under German law, the original fossil is held at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Karlsruhe. Het Oertijdmuseum is currently hosting a special exhibition around the casts, exploring the ancient environment of the Altmühltal: a tropical lagoon. (GvM)
A few fragments of the newly described Archaeopteryx fossil: including parts of the left arm and the right arm. Source: Christian Foth et al., Fossil Record, 2025.