Archaeopteryx is no longer the first bird

Adam Khor

It has finally been announced that Archaeopteryx is not the first bird as we were all taught, but rather a non-avian dinosaur within Deinonychosauria.

I'm not surprised at all- for years I've been telling people that there are dinosaurs more similar to birds than Archaeopteryx itself, but still they are considered to be non-avian dinos.
Archaeopteryx looks a lot like a small dromaeosaur to me. It even has the retractable killer-claw.

Anyways, the claim is based on the study of another feathered dinosaur, Xiaotinga, a chicken-sized Archaeopteryx lookalike.


Another article mentions that Archaeopteryx is now included, along with Xiaotinga, within family Archaeopterygidae, which is confusing since recently another paper had re-classiffied Archaeopteryx as a member of the Unenlagiinae (along with Rahonavis, Buitreraptor and gigantic Austroraptor).