Archaeopteryx bavarica

From EvoWiki

Archaeopteryx bavarica is a proposed species of the extinct genus Archaeopteryx.

Peter Wellnhofer erected this new species taxon within genus Archaeopteryx based on the most recently recovered urvogel material, BSP 1999 (Wellnhofer 1993, Feduccia 1996). Wellnhofer's diagnosis is based on the presence of an ossified sternum, higher ratio of hindlimb to humeral length, and higher ratio of tibia to femoral length.

Status of the distinction has been called into question by some authors. The preservation of a sternum in this material may not be sufficient justification to impute to it the status of autonomous species if, as has been implied, the other specimens of Archaeopteryx simply did not preserve a sternum, either through breakage or postmortem transport. Similarly, difference in size can be seen as allometric and not indicative of phylogenetic distance (Senter & Robins 2003).