Re: Coracoid/scapula (was Re: flying Archie)

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> You raise an interesting issue, David.  If the enantiornithine 
> configuration
> (peg on coracoid, socket in scapula) is primitive,

I don't think it is primitive. ?Within Enantiornithes itself, *Protopteryx* 
has a flat joint (no peg, no socket). I forgot about *Jibeinia*. The 
confuciusornithids have fused scapulocoracoids, and *Sapeornis* has a suture 
(which would possibly have fused with age)... That makes 3: the assumption 
of convergence is more parsimonious than that of several reversals.

Convergence happens. *Microraptor* has an alula, more or less. Archie and 
the confuciusornithids have nothing of the sort.