''Wellnhoferia'' (named after Peter Wellnhofer) is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of early prehistoric bird-like theropod dinosaur closely related to ''

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaîos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

''. It lived in what is now

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, during the Late

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

. While ''Wellnhoferia'' was similar to ''Archaeopteryx'', it had a shorter tail and its fourth toe was shorter than in ''Archaeopteryx''. Andrzej Elżanowski (2001) of the Institute of Zoology of the

University of Wrocław The University of Wrocław (, UWr; ) is a public research university in Wrocław, Poland. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, with over 100,000 graduates since 1945, including some 1,900 researcher ...

, Poland, determined the differences resulted from a "phylogenetic reduction rather than individual variation." Archiesizeall1

The type specimen is the Solnhofen Specimen of ''Archaeopteryx'' (BSP 1999). Discovered in the 1960s near

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Dioce ...

, Germany and described in 1988 by Wellnhofer (as a specimen of ''Archaeopteryx''), it is now in the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum in

Solnhofen Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the ' of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley. The local area is famous in geology and palaeontology for Solnhofen lime ...

. It was originally classified as a ''

Compsognathus ''Compsognathus'' (; Ancient Greek, Greek ''kompsos''/κομψός; "elegant", "refined" or "dainty", and ''gnathos''/γνάθος; "jaw") is a genus of small, bipedalism, bipedal, carnivore, carnivorous theropoda, theropod dinosaur. Members o ...

'' by an amateur collector. Although Elżanowski found significant differences between ''Wellnhoferia'' and ''Archaeopteryx'', a 2007 study by Mayr ''et al.'' found ''Wellnhoferia'' was a specimen of ''Archaeopteryx lithographica''. Senter and Robins (2003), however, supported Elżanowski's naming of a new genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q138070 Archaeopterygidae Feathered dinosaurs Dinosaur genera Tithonian dinosaurs Dinosaurs of Germany Fossil taxa described in 2001