_Archaeopteryx_

[Phillip Bigelow <n8010095@henson.cc.wwu.edu>]

Jerry Harris writes:
>sketches of the feathers.  If _Archaeopteryx_ retains such charateristic
>feathers for flight, then I have a difficult time believing that the animal
>didn't fly!  Thus, I believe that the animal flew, although the small size
>of the sternum (whether or not it was ossified) must have made it a
>somewhat less graceful flier than modern birds.  The fact that the sternum
>in only slightly younger birds (_Sinornis_, _Iberomesornis_, etc. on
>through _Ambiortus_) grew in size rapidly points only to the quick
>evolution of this trait to stabilize flight.

>Jerry D. Harris
>Denver Museum of Natural History


  Or it may indicate a more derived sister group that predates _Archaeopteryx_. 
 In other words, Archaeopteryx may represent a plesiomorphic dead-end branch
in the Aves tree.  If this is ever proven true, it wouldn't be the first
instance of this happening in fossil record.
                     <pb>