Diastataxy

From EvoWiki

Diastataxy refers to the peculiar condition observed in basal neornithine lineages in which the fifth secondary remex is missing, but the corresponding secondary covert, is present--leaving a diastema between the fourth and sixth secondary remiges. How this is the work of a "master designer", or reflective of "intelligent design" is not readily apparent. The ID standpoint becomes most farcical when confronted by the hummingbird Cyanophaia caeruleolavata (Aves: Trochilidae) which is eutaxic in one wing and diastataxic in another! The kingfisher Halcyon pileata (Aves: Alcedinidae) displays an intermediary morphology between the eutaxic and diastataxic condition into adult ontogeny and thus provides a similarly inexplicable "design" quirk. Perhaps more bizarre yet is the hodgepodge distribution of diastataxy throughout Aves. For instance, all Charadrii are diastataxic except Philohela, why? Why was this one particular genus singled out for eutaxy? Within Rallidae all but eight species are diastataxic. In another two genera of rails, Creciscus and Sarothrura, both eutaxic and diastataxic species exist. Again the question must be, why? Why the erratic distribution of diastataxy and eutaxy? It strains credulity to advance "intelligent design" as the explanation for any of these examples.