![Archaeoraptor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Archaeoraptor.png)
"Archaeoraptor" is the informal
generic
Generic or generics may refer to:
In business
* Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark
* Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...
name for a
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
chimera
Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to:
* Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals
* Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilicia ...
from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in an article published in
''National Geographic'' magazine in 1999. The magazine claimed that the fossil was a "
missing link" between
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
s and terrestrial
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s. Even before this publication, there had been severe doubts about the fossil's authenticity. A further scientific study showed it to be a
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
constructed from rearranged pieces of real fossils from different species. Zhou ''et al.'' found that the head and upper body belong to a specimen of the primitive fossil bird ''
Yanornis
''Yanornis'' () is an extinct genus of fish-eating Early Cretaceous birds. Two species have been described, both from Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, China: ''Yanornis martini'', based on several fossils found in the 120-million-ye ...
''.
[Zhou, Zhonghe, Clarke, Julia A., Zhang, Fucheng. "Archaeoraptor's better half." ''Nature'' Vol. 420. 21 November 2002. pp. 285.] A 2002 study found that the tail belongs to a small winged
dromaeosaur
Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning ...
, ''
Microraptor
''Microraptor'' (Greek, μικρός, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China. They dat ...
'', named in 2000.
The legs and feet belong to an as-yet-unknown-animal.
[Holden, Constance. "Florida Meeting Shows Perils, Promise of Dealing for Dinos" ''Science'' 14 April 2000. Vol.288 no.5464 pp.238-239. ]
The scandal brought attention to illegal fossil deals conducted in China. Although "Archaeoraptor" was a forgery, many true examples of
feathered dinosaurs
A feathered dinosaur is any species of dinosaur possessing feathers. While this includes all species of birds, there is a hypothesis that many, if not all non-avian dinosaur species also possessed feathers in some shape or form.
It has been s ...
have been found and demonstrate the evolutionary connection between birds and other theropods.
Scandal
"Archaeoraptor" was unveiled at a press conference held by ''National Geographic'' magazine in October 1999. At the same press conference, plans were announced to return the fossil to Chinese authorities, as it was illegally exported. In November 1999 ''National Geographic'' featured the fossil in an article written by art editor Christopher Sloan. The article in general discussed feathered dinosaurs and the origin of birds. It claimed the fossil was "a missing link between terrestrial dinosaurs and birds that could fly" and informally referred to it as "Archaeoraptor liaoningensis", announcing it would later be formally named as such. This name means "ancient robber of
Liaoning
Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
".
This drew immediate criticism from
Storrs L. Olson
Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known ...
, Curator of Birds at the
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
in Washington, D.C. Writing in ''Backbone'', the newsletter of his museum, he denounced the publication of a scientific name in a popular journal, without peer review, as a "nightmare".
[Dalton, Rex. "Feathers fly over Chinese fossil bird's legality and authenticity" ''Nature'' Vol 403. 17 February 2000. pp. 689 - 690]
On February 3, 2000, ''National Geographic'' issued a press release stating that the fossil could be a composite and that an internal investigation had begun. In that same month Bill Allen, ''National Geographic'' editor, told ''Nature'' that he was "furious" to learn that the fossil might have been faked. In the March issue, in the forum section, a letter from Dr. Xu Xing pointed out that the tail section probably did not match the upper body. In October 2000 ''National Geographic'' published the results of their investigation, in an article written by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Lewis M. Simons. Simons concluded that the fossil was a composite and that virtually everyone involved in the project had made some mistakes.
Chronology
According to ''National Geographics report, the story of "Archaeoraptor" begins in July 1997 in Xiasanjiazi, China, where farmers routinely dug in the shale pits with picks and sold fossils to dealers for a few dollars. This was an illegal practice, but it was common then. In this case, one farmer found a rare fossil of a toothed bird, complete with feather impressions. The fossil broke into pieces during collection. Nearby, in the same pit, he found pieces including a feathered tail and legs. He cemented several of these pieces together in a manner that he believed was correct. He knew that it would make a more complete-looking and, thus, more expensive fossil. It was sold in June 1998 to an anonymous dealer and smuggled to the United States. According to authorities in Beijing, no fossils may leave China legally.
By the fall 1998 annual meeting of the
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world.
Mission and Activities
SVP has about 2,300 members inter ...
, held in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, United States, rumors were circulating about a striking fossil of a primitive bird that was in private hands. This fossil was presented by an anonymous dealer at a gem show in
Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
.
The Dinosaur Museum in
Blanding, Utah
Blanding () is a city in San Juan County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,375 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city in San Juan County. It was settled in the late 19th century by Mormon settlers, predominantly from the ...
, purchased it in February 1999. The museum was run by the late
Stephen A. Czerkas (d. 2015) and his wife, Sylvia Czerkas. Mr. Czerkas did not hold a university degree, but he was a dinosaur enthusiast and artist. He arranged for patrons of his museum, including trustee Dale Slade, to provide $80,000 for the purchase of the fossil, to study it scientifically, and prevent it from disappearing into an anonymous private collection.
The Czerkases contacted paleontologist
Phil Currie
Philip John Currie (born March 13, 1949) is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the ...
, who contacted the
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
. Currie agreed to study the fossil on condition that it was eventually returned to China. The National Geographic Society intended to get the fossil formally published in the peer-reviewed science journal ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'', and then follow up immediately with a press conference and an issue of ''National Geographic''.
Editor Bill Allen asked that all members of the project keep the fossil secret so that the magazine would have a scoop on the story.
Slade and the Czerkases intended the fossil to be the "crown jewel" of the Dinosaur Museum and planned to keep it on display there for five years. Sloan says that he flew to Utah in the spring of 1999 to convince Stephen Czerkas to return the fossil to China immediately after publication, or he would not write about it for ''National Geographic'' and Currie would not work on it. Czerkas then agreed. Currie then contacted the
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP; ) of China is a research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian Formation). As its name suggest ...
in Beijing, and ''National Geographic'' flew the IVPP's Xu Xing to Utah to be part of the "Archaeoraptor" team.
During the initial examination of the fossil on March 6, 1999, it had already become clear to Currie that the left and right feet mirrored each other perfectly and that the fossil had been completed by using both slab and counter slab. He also noticed no connection could be seen between the tail and the body. In July 1999, Currie and the Czerkases brought the fossil to the High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility of the University of Texas (Austin) founded and operated by Dr. Timothy Rowe to make
CT scan
A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...
s. Rowe, having made the scans on July 29, determined that they indicated that the bottom fragments, showing the tail and the lower legs, were not part of the larger fossil. He informed the Czerkases on August 2 that there was a chance of the whole being a fraud. During a subsequent discussion, Rowe and Currie were pressured by the Czerkases to keep their reservations private.
Currie in the first week of September sent his preparator, Kevin Aulenback, to the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding to prepare the fossil for better study. Aulenback concluded that the fossil was "a composite specimen of at least 3 specimens...with a maximum...of five...separate specimens", but the Czerkases angrily denied this and Aulenbeck only reported this to Currie. Currie did not inform ''National Geographic'' of these problems.
On August 13, 1999, the team submitted a manuscript titled "A New Toothed Bird With a Dromaeosaur-like Tail" under the names of Stephen Czerkas, Currie, Rowe, and Xu, to the journal ''Nature'' in London. The paper mentions two places and includes a figure illustrating the point that one of the legs and the tail are counterparts that were composited into the main slab.
On August 20 ''Nature'' rejected the paper, indicating to the Czerkases that ''National Geographic'' had refused to delay publication, leaving too little time for peer review. The authors then submitted the paper to ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'', which sent it out for peer review. Two reviewers informed ''Science'' that "the specimen was smuggled out of China and illegally purchased" and that the fossil had been "doctored" in China "to enhance its value." ''Science'' then rejected the paper. According to Sloan, the Czerkases did not inform ''National Geographic'' about the details of the two rejections.
By that time the November issue of ''National Geographic'' was already in preparation for printing, but "Archaeoraptor" was never formally published in any peer-reviewed journal.
''National Geographic'' went ahead and published without peer review.
The fossil was unveiled in a press conference on October 15, 1999, and in November 1999 ''National Geographic'' contained an article by Christopher P. Sloan—a ''National Geographic'' art editor. Sloan described it as a missing link that helped elucidate the connection between dinosaurs and birds. The original fossil was put on display at the National Geographic Society in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, pending return to China. In the article Sloan used the name "''Archaeoraptor liaoningensis''" but with a disclaimer (so that it would not count as a nomenclatural act for scientific classification) in anticipation of Czerkas
being able to publish a peer-reviewed description at some point in the future.
After the November ''National Geographic'' came out, Storrs L. Olson, curator of birds in the National Museum of Natural History of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
published an
open letter
An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...
on 1 November 1999, pointing out that "the specimen in question is known to have been illegally exported" and protesting the "prevailing dogma that birds evolved from dinosaurs." Olson complained that Sloan, a journalist, had usurped the process of scientific nomenclature by publishing a name first in the popular press: "This is the worst nightmare of many zoologists—that their chance to name a new organism will be inadvertently scooped by some witless journalist."
In October 1999, after having been informed by Currie of the problems and seeing the specimen for the first time, Xu noticed that the tail of "Archaeoraptor" strongly resembled an unnamed
maniraptora
Maniraptora is a clade of coelurosaurian dinosaurs which includes the birds and the non-avian dinosaurs that were more closely related to them than to ''Ornithomimus velox''. It contains the major subgroups Avialae, Deinonychosauria, Oviraptoros ...
n dinosaur that he was studying—later to be named ''
Microraptor zhaoianus''.
He returned to China and traveled to Liaoning Province where he inspected the fossil site and contacted several
fossil dealer
The fossil trade is the purchase and sale of fossils. This is many times done illegally with stolen fossils, and many important scientific specimens are lost each year. The trade is lucrative, and many celebrities collect fossils.
The fossil t ...
s. He eventually found a fairly complete fossil of a tiny dromaeosaur, and the tail of this new fossil corresponded so exactly to the tail on the "Archaeoraptor" fossil that it had to be the counter slab— it even had two matching yellow oxide stains.
On December 20, 1999, Xu Xing sent e-mails to the authors and Sloan, announcing that the fossil was a fake.
[Dalton, Rex. "Fake bird fossil highlights the problem of illegal trading" ''Nature'' Vol 404, 13 April 2000. pp.696]
On February 3, 2000, ''The National Geographic News'' issued a press release stating that the "Archaeoraptor" fossil might be a composite and that an internal investigation had begun. In the March issue of ''National Geographic'' Xu's letter ran in the Forum section of the magazine, and Bill Allen had Xu change the word "fake" to "composite".
[Xu, Xing (2000) "Response to "Feathers for ''T.rex''?" "''National Geographic Magazine''" 197(3) March 2000, Forum Section (pp. unnumbered)]
On April 4, 2000, Stephen Czerkas told a group of paleontologists in Washington that he and Sylvia had made "an idiot, bone-stupid mistake". Currie, Allen, and Sloan all expressed regret. Rowe felt vindicated, claiming the affair as evidence that his scans were correct. Rowe published a Brief Communication in ''Nature'' in 2001 describing his findings. He concluded that, apart from the top part, several specimens had been used to complete the fossil: a first for the left femur, a second for the tibiae, a third for both feet, and at least one more for the tail, which alone consisted of five separate parts.
[Rowe, T., Ketcham, R.A., Denison, C., Colbert, M., Xu, X., Currie, P.J. ''Nature'' vol. 410 29 March 2001 pp.539-540.]
In June 2000 the fossil was returned to China.
[Dalton, Rex. "Feathered fossils cause a flap in museums" ''Nature'' Vol 429. 6 May 2004. pp. 5.] In the October 2000 issue, ''National Geographic'' published the results of their investigation.
Ongoing confusion
The fossils involved in the "Archaeoraptor" scandal have led to ongoing confusion over taxon names. In December 2000, ''Microraptor'' was described in ''Nature''.
Zhou ''et al.'' (2002) examined the upper body of the "Archaeoraptor" fossil and reported that it belonged to the previously-named genus ''
Yanornis
''Yanornis'' () is an extinct genus of fish-eating Early Cretaceous birds. Two species have been described, both from Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, China: ''Yanornis martini'', based on several fossils found in the 120-million-ye ...
''.
''Dinosaur Museum Journal''
In 2002 the Czerkases published a volume through their Dinosaur Museum titled ''Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight''. In this journal, they described and named several species.
Of the six species named in the book, five are disputed.
Despite the work of Zhou et al. (2002), Czerkas and co-author
Xu Xing described the upper portion of the "Archaeoraptor" fossil as a new bird genus, ''
Archaeovolans'', in the ''Dinosaur Museum Journal''. The article does include the caveat that it might be a specimen of ''Yanornis''.
[Czerkas, Sylvia J. ed. (2002) "Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight" ''The Dinosaur Museum Journal'' Volume 1. Blanding, Utah, USA. The Dinosaur Museum, August 1, 2002] Thus, this same fossil specimen has been named "Archaeoraptor", ''Archeovolans'', and ''Yanornis'', in different places.
Across the monographs in the ''Dinosaur Museum Journal'', Stephen Czerkas built a case for his controversial view that maniraptoran dinosaurs are secondarily flightless birds. In so doing, he criticized prominent paleontologists. In the text on ''
Cryptovolans
''Microraptor'' (Greek language, Greek, μικρός, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin language, Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovere ...
'', Czerkas accused Dr.
Mark Norell
Mark Allen Norell (born July 26, 1957) is an American paleontologist, acknowledged as one of the most important living vertebrate paleontologists. He is currently the chairman of paleontology and a research associate at the American Museum of Na ...
of misinterpreting the fossil BPM 1 3-13 as having long leg feathers due to the "blinding influences of preconceived ideas."
Though Norell's interpretation was correct, Czerkas added leg feathers to his reconstruction of the fossil in the art that promotes the traveling exhibit.
Two other taxa that Czerkas and his co-authors named were later treated as junior synonyms by other authors. Czerkas' ''Cryptovolans'' was treated as ''Microraptor'',
and his ''
Scansoriopteryx
''Scansoriopteryx'' ("climbing wing") is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. Described from only a single juvenile fossil specimen found in Liaoning, China, ''Scansoriopteryx'' is a sparrow-sized animal that shows adaptations in the foot indicatin ...
'' was treated as ''
Epidendrosaurus
''Scansoriopteryx'' ("climbing wing") is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. Described from only a single juvenile fossil specimen found in Liaoning, China, ''Scansoriopteryx'' is a sparrow-sized animal that shows adaptations in the foot indicatin ...
''.
[Padian, Kevin. (2001) "Basal Avialae" in "The Dinosauria" in ''The Dinosauria: Second Edition'' University of California Press. 2004.] Czerkas described ''
Omnivoropteryx
''Omnivoropteryx'' (meaning "omnivorous wing") is a genus of primitive flying avialan from the early Cretaceous Upper Jiufotang Formation of China. The authors who described ''Omnivoropteryx'', Stephen Czerkas and Qiang Ji, stated that their sp ...
'', noting that it was similar to ''
Sapeornis
''Sapeornis'' is a monotypic genus of avialan which lived during the early Cretaceous period ( late Barremian to early Aptian, roughly 125-120 mya). ''Sapeornis'' contains only one species, ''Sapeornis chaoyangensis''.
Description
''Sapeornis' ...
''. Later specimens of ''Sapeornis'' with skulls demonstrated that the two were probably synonymous.
Another taxon that Czerkas assigned to the
Pterosauria and named ''
Utahdactylus'' was reviewed by Dr. Chris Bennett. Bennett found multiple misidentifications of bones and inconsistencies between Czerkas' diagrams and the actual fossils. Bennett found the specimen to be an indeterminate diapsid and criticized the previous authors for publishing a species name when no diagnostic characters below the class level could be verified. He made ''Utahdactylus'' a ''
nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
''.
[Bennett, S. Christopher (2007) "Reassessment of ''Utahdactylus'' from the Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah", ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 27(1):257-260 March 2007.]
Traveling exhibit
In 2001 Stephen and Sylvia Czerkas compiled a traveling exhibit containing 34 other Chinese fossils. The show is titled ''Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight''. The
San Diego Natural History Museum
The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi and th ...
paid a set fee to the Dinosaur Museum to display this show in 2004. When the show opened, Dr.
Ji Qiang
Ji or JI may refer to:
Names and titles
* Ji (surname), the pinyin romanization of a number of distinct Chinese surnames
* Ji (Korean name), a Korean surname and element in given names (including lists of people with the name)
* -ji, an honorific ...
told reporters from ''Nature'' that about a dozen of the fossils had left China illegally. Ji arranged with the Czerkases to assign accession numbers to three of the most valuable specimens, thus formally adding them to the collection of the
Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS; ) is an institution that engages in geoscience research in the People's Republic of China. The academy was established in 1956 and reorganized in 1999. Administratively it is under the PRC Ministry ...
in Beijing, although they remain in the possession of the Czerkases. Stephen Czerkas denied Ji's assertion that the fossils were illegal. Sylvia Czerkas told the journal ''Nature'' that she had worked out an agreement with officials of Liaoning Province in 2001 to borrow the fossils and that they were to be repatriated in 2007. Through March 2009, however, the show was scheduled for the
Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science
The Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science was a Smithsonian Institution Affiliate and American Alliance of Museums accredited museum located in downtown Fresno, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. The Museum was established in 1984 a ...
in California. According to ''Nature'', the Czerkases refused requests to make the officials from Liaoning available for an interview.
Many scientists consider it unethical to work on fossils if there is any chance that they have been smuggled, and many disregard privately owned fossils altogether.
[Hopkin, Michael (2007) "Paleontology journal will 'fuel black market'" ''Nature'' (news) 445:234-235 18 January 2007 ] Some professionals feel that private collectors put fossils in private hands where science may not be able to access or study them. Some believe that private collectors may damage important fossils, subject them to forgery, and obscure their origins or evidence about their ages. Illegal dealers have also participated in and may encourage, governmental corruption. Another philosophy argues that if scientists could bend their ethics and agree to publish on important private fossils, this would encourage private holders to make them available for study.
The fossil most recently appeared in an exhibition in Wollaton Hall, near Nottingham, titled
Dinosaurs of China: Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers, where it was exhibited along with fossils of ''Yanoris'' and ''Microraptor'', its main components.
Taxonomic history
In April 2000 Olson published an article in ''Backbone'', the newsletter of the National Museum of Natural History. In this article, he justified his views on the evolution of birds, but also revised and redescribed the species "Archaeoraptor liaoningensis" by designating just the tail of the original fraudulent specimen as the
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...
. To prevent the tainted name "Archaeoraptor" from entering
paleornithological literature, this redescription assigned the name to that part of the chimeric specimen least likely to be classified under
Aves
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
, rather than to the portion which was later shown to represent a true bird species. Olson presumed that the ''National Geographic'' article had already validly named the fossil, and he, therefore, failed to explicitly indicate the name was new, as demanded by article 16 of the
ICZN
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the I ...
as a condition for a name to be valid. Several months afterward Xu, Zhou, and Wang published their description of ''Microraptor zhaoianus'' in ''Nature''.
Creationism
![Microraptor fossil1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Microraptor_fossil1.JPG)
The scandal is sometimes used by creationists like
Kent Hovind
Kent E. Hovind (born January 15, 1953) is an American Christian fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalist evangelist and tax protester. He is a controversial figure in the Young Earth creationism, Young Earth creationist movement whose ministry ...
, Kirk Cameron, and Ray Comfort to cast doubt on the hypothesis that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Many creationists insist that no missing links between birds and dinosaurs have been found, and commonly point to "Archaeoraptor" as evidence of misconduct performed to support the evolutionary theory.
They see "Archaeoraptor" as a "Piltdown Bird". However, contrary to the
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity virtually from the beginning, the remains ...
, "Archaeoraptor" was not deliberately fabricated to support some evolutionary claim. Furthermore, the authenticity of "Archaeoraptor" would not have been essential proof for the hypothesis that birds are theropods, as this is sufficiently corroborated by other data; paleontologist
Christopher Brochu concluded in November 2001: "That birds are derived theropod dinosaurs is no longer the subject of scholarly dispute."
[Brochu, Christopher A. (2001), "Progress and future directions in archosaur phylogenetics", ''Journal of Paleontology'': Vol. 75, No. 6, pp. 1185–1201] Though playing the role of "terrestrial dinosaur" in the "Archaeoraptor" affair, the ''Microraptor'', showing wings and clear traces of
rectrices
Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...
, is generally assumed to have had at least a gliding capacity and is itself an excellent example of a transitional fossil.
References
External links
{{Portal, Dinosaurs
* Helen Briggs,
'Piltdown' bird fake explained', from March 29, 2001, BBC News Online.
* Hillary Mayell
from the November 20, 2002 ''National Geographic News''.
* Simons, Lewis M., 2000. Archaeoraptor fossil trail. ''National Geographic'' 198(4) (October): 128–132.
* Reed, Christina.
''Geotimes'', March 2000.
* BBC Horizon 2002
"The dinosaur that fooled the world"
Feathered dinosaurs
Hoaxes in science
Invalid dinosaurs
Nomina nuda
Hoaxes in China
1999 in China
1999 hoaxes
Paleontological chimeras