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Move over _Archaeopteryx_, an older bird just landed on the evolutionary tree. Scientists writing in _Nature_ magazine, say a feathered, chicken-sized creature known as _Aurornis xui_,

unearthed recently in northeastern China, challenges the "pivotal position of _Archaeopteryx_" — long regarded as the oldest bird. _Aurornis_is dated to the Jurassic period, 160

million years ago and about 10 million years before _Archaeopteryx_makes its first known appearance in the fossil record. "Our analyses indicate [ _Aurornis_is] the most primitive bird

known," co-author Andrea Cau, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini in Italy, says. "It looked like a ground bird, but with a long tail, clawed

hands and toothed jaws." As _The Los Angeles Times_ writes: "The study authors argue that _Aurornis_ represents the earliest known bird, but other scientists say it could be part

of a group of bird-like dinosaurs that were developing feathers and bird-like features but never quite got off the ground, evolutionarily speaking. 'You're looking at an animal

that is either a very primitive bird or something very closely related to birds,' said [Luis] Chiappe, a veterbrate paleontologist at the National History Museum of Los Angeles who is

not involved in the _Nature_ study. 'I tend to think that it's not a bird, but that it's one of those true very close ancestors of bird.'" The discovery is not all

bad news for newly dethroned _Archaeopteryx_. Before the study, there was debate as to whether it was indeed a fully fledged bird, but the authors of the study believe that the discovery of

_Aurornis_ puts the branches of the bird lineage in context and restores _Archaeopteryx_ to flight status. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.