Abstract
Pneumatization of the postcranial skeleton by the lungs is thought to be a hallmark of the avian skeleton, and to be an adaptation for flight by reducing weight. Pneumatic features have, however, remained elusive in the primitive avialan Archaeopteryx lithographica. The hollow long bones of Archaeopteryx were first interpreted to be pneumatized1, but this interpretation was later rejected because of an absence of pneumatic foramina in these bones that connect their interiors with the respiratory system2,3,4,5,6. Pneumatic features have also been recognized in the axial skeleton of many non-avialan theropod dinosaurs (and some other archosaurs of the bird clade). The purported lack of postcranial pneumatic features in Archaeopteryx has been interpreted as a primitive condition of avialans; this raises doubts about the homology between postcranial pneumatic features of birds and non-avialan theropods7. Here we re-examine two specimens of Archaeopteryx. These specimens show evidence of vertebral pneumaticity in the cervical and anterior thoracic vertebrae, thus confirming the phylogenetic continuity between the pneumatic systems of non-avialan theropods and living birds.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the curatorial staffs of the American Museum of Natural History, British Museum of Natural History, Humboldt Museum für Naturkunde, Jura-Museum Eichstätt and Yale Peabody Museum for access to their specimens; and L. Barretti, M. Ellison and A. Gishlick for assistance with the production of the figures. This work was supported by the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the University of Calgary (B.B.B.), the Danish Research Academy and the AMNH (P.J.M.), an NSF grant and a travel grant from the Geraldine Lindsay Fund of the California Academy of Sciences (to J.G.), and a travel grant from the Geological Institute, Copenhagen University (to N.B.).
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Britt, B., Makovicky, P., Gauthier, J. et al. Postcranial pneumatization in Archaeopteryx. Nature 395, 374–376 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/26469
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/26469
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