No Sternum for _Archaeopteryx_

["Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu>]

Hi All -

   I just received this today, but don't recall seeing it on the list 
(pardon if it's a repeat!):

Wellnhofer, P. & Tischlinger, H. 2004. Das "Brustbein" von Archaeopteryx 
bavarica Wellnhofer 1993 - eine Revision. Archaeopteryx, 22: 3-15.

The abstract is very long, so I won't retype it here, but the paper 
basically reports on attempts to x-ray and CT scan _A. bavarica_ to see the 
exact shape of the sternum, to no avail; subsequent preparation, however, 
under UV light, unearthed (ba-dum, chik!) the fact that it _isn't_ a 
sternum -- it's part of the coracoid to which the "sternum" was originally 
reported to abut against. Specifically, "During this preparation...it became 
obvious that the bone which hitherto had been identified as a part of the 
sternal plate pressed tightly against the left coracoid is in fact the 
medial part of this same coracoid." And you _know_ it must be true because 
they used the word "hitherto."  Anyway, their ultimate conclusion is that, 
with this new prep, the previously incompletely known coracoid of 
_Archaeopteryx_ can now be described and is "in its general 
morphology...neither avian, i.e. long and pillar-like, nor theropodan, i.e. 
short and semicircular. Rather it is unique in being somewhat intermediate 
in its form and in extending in two planes."  Probably not a surprise to 
anyone familiar with the already "intermediate" state of various other 
characteristics of _Archaeopteryx_, but I guess it means all the people who 
only see 1's and 0's can now remove the "1" from their coding for this 
character in _Archaeopteryx_, at least if you were basing that on this 
specimen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT  84770
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and     dinogami@hotmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/

An expert is a man who has made all
the mistakes that can be made in a very
narrow field. -- Niels Bohr

After one look at this planet any visitor
from outer space would say "I want to
see the manager." -- William Burroughs