Re: the transverse ligamental groove

["Mickey Mortimer" <mickey_mortimer@email.msn.com>]

Nick Longrich wrote-

> I don't know that anybody really knows for sure what Archaeopteryx'
>sternum looked like- there are disagreements about Wellnhofer's
>reconstruction. It seems unlikely that Archaeopteryx would have such a
>small sternum compared to dromaeosaurs and oviraptorids.


Although it would seem unlikely, it's obviously true that Archaeopteryx
lithographica lacks an ossified sternum and is probable that A. bavarica had
a small sternum if the other species lacks one.  What's the problem with A.
bavarica's sternum?  Is it so poorly preserved that it can't be determined
whether or not it is a sternum, is whole, etc.?

Mickey Mortimer