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Science 9 March 1979:
Vol. 203. no. 4384, pp. 1021 - 1022
DOI: 10.1126/science.203.4384.1021
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Articles

Feathers of Archaeopteryx: Asymmetric Vanes Indicate Aerodynamic Function

ALAN FEDUCCIA 1 and HARRISON B. TORDOFF 2

1 Department of Zoology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27514, and Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560
2 Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455

Vanes in the primary flight feathers of Archaeopteryx conform to the asymmetric pattern in modern flying birds. The asymmetry has aerodynamic functions and can be assumed to have evolved in the selective context of flight.

Submitted on May 30, 1978
Revised on January 7, 1979


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