Richard Owen publishes first description of Archaeopteryx

Background. Archaeopteryx is an extinct genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The initial discovery was a single feather unearthed in 1860 or 1861 and described in 1861 by Hermann von Meyer. The first skeleton, known as the London Specimen, was unearthed in 1861 near Langenaltheim, Germany. It was missing most of its head and neck.

Publication. Richard Owen, an English biologist and palaeontologist, described the London Specimen in 1863. He named it Archaeopteryx macrura. This name allowed for the possibility that the skeleton did not belong to the same species as the feather. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils.

Nomenclature. The taxonomic synonymy list attributes the name Archaeopteryx macrura to Owen, 1862, and records it as a rejected name since 1961 per ICZN Opinion 607. The conserved name is Archaeopteryx lithographica Meyer, 1861. The 1862 attribution in the synonymy list is distinct from the year Owen described the London Specimen, which the description passage gives as 1863; the feather had already been described by von Meyer in 1861.