Thomas Henry Huxley and the kinship between dinosaurs and birds

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2447-9020.intelligere.2021.185719

Keywords:

History of Paleontology, Thomas Henry Huxley, Archeopteryx, Compsognathus, Bird Evolution

Abstract

This work consists of a translation of the article “On the Animals which are most nearly intermediate between Birds and the Reptiles” by Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), initially published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History in February 1868. In this text, Huxley addressed the hypothesis of an evolutionary relationship between reptiles and birds after observing several similarities between two important fossils belonging to these groups: Compsognathus and Archeopteryx. Despite the evidence pointed out by Huxley and other researchers, the hypothesis that birds descended from dinosaurs lost strength in the 1920s, coming back only in the 1970s. Since then, it is a consensus in the scientific community.

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Author Biographies

  • Julian Cristian Gonçalves Sulva Junior, Laboratório de Paleontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP/USP)

    Licenciado em Ciências Biológicas e Mestre em Ciências. Atualmente é estudante de Doutorado do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Comparada (FFCLRP) e é integrante do Laboratório de Paleontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP/USP).  

  • Tatiane Barbosa Martins, Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto. Grupo de Pesquisa em História e Teoria da Biologia

    Licenciada em Ciências Biológicas e Mestra em Ciências.  É integrante do Laboratório de História e Teoria da Biologia (FFCLRP) e participa do Grupo de Pesquisa em História e Teoria da Biologia (FFCLRP/USP). 

References

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Published

2021-08-14

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How to Cite

Thomas Henry Huxley and the kinship between dinosaurs and birds . (2021). Intelligere, 11, 178-197. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2447-9020.intelligere.2021.185719

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