Archaeopteryx and missing links

Problems with Missing Links:
According to Jones (1999) and Olsen (1981) the major problem with missing links is the imperfection in the geological record. This imperfection produces gaps in the biological timeline of species throughout history; Jones suggests that roughly one percent of species are subjected to conditions favorable for fossilization. This coupled with the natural processes that destroy the geological record, such as water erosion and the systematic destruction of the ocean floor, suggests that many of the “missing links” may be lost to us forever.
This imperfection in the geological record and scanty evidence for missing links has produced much descent among the anti-evolution population. The anti-evolutionist camp often cites these issues as evidence that evolution is indeed a falsified theory. However, there is evidence of missing links in the fossil record, one of the best known species being that of Archaeopteryx.

Archaeopteryx a missing link:

The fossil Archaeopteryx was first discovered in 1860, and to date seven specimens and a feather comprise the complete collection of Archaeopteryx specimens. Archaeopteryx lived in the late Jurassic period, about one hundred and fifty million years, in the area that is now present day Europe, and was roughly the size of a pigeon. Archaeopteryx both reptilian characteristics and avian characteristics, thus it is thought to represent a missing link between dinosaurs and birds.
Archaeopteryx possessed well developed primary and secondary flight feathers, evident that it could at least glide, if not completely able to fly. It also possessed an enlarged deltopectoral crest, indicating the presence of muscles that aid in flight. However, some have argued that Archaeopteryx was not capable of flight, and that Archaeopteryx developed feathers for insulation rather than flight. It is still believed that while Archaeopteryx appeared birdlike on the outside, due to the presence of feathers, that it was much more closely related to reptiles, evident in its skeletal likeness to reptiles.
Archaeopteryx has a striking physiological likeness to coelurosaurid dinosaurs, small active bipedal dinosaurs with raptorial forelimbs. Archaeopteryx resembles these dinosaurs so much that a specimen that preserved without feathers was misidentified as Compsagnathus, a small coelurosaurid dinosaur.
Thus the myriad of characteristics both avian and reptilian suggests that Archaeopteryx represents a link between dinosaurs and birds.

References
Jones, Steve.
1999. Darwin’s Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated. Ballantine publishing. London

Ruben, John.
1991. Reptilian Physiology and the Flight Capacity of Archaeopteryx. Evolution. 45(1). Pp 1-17.

Olsen, Everett C.
1981. The Problem of Missing Links: Today and Yesterday. The Quarterly Review of Biology. 56(4). Pp405-442.

Feduccia, Alan.
1974. Endothermy, Dinosaurs, and Archaeopteryx. Evolution. 28(3). Pp 503-504.


http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/Archaeopteryx/