structural:scholar_edition
Huxley, Archaeopteryx and early research

Scientific investigation into the origin of birds began shortly after the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin 's On the Origin of Species. In 1860, a fossilized feather was discovered in Germany 's Late Jurassic Solnhofen limestone. Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer described this feather as Archaeopteryx lithographica the next year. Richard Owen described a nearly complete skeleton in 1863, recognizing it as a bird despite many features reminiscent of reptiles, including clawed forelimbs and a long, bony tail.