Fig. 3.

Paravian phylogeny showing the major changes of manus and pelvis fusions. The ancestral conditions of the pelvis and manus fusions of the major nodes were reconstructed using the parsimonious method in Mesquite. Major changes are summarized below: I, the metacarpals and pelvis unfused in adults; II, the semilunate carpal fused with the proximal ends of the major and minor metacarpals, with the alular metacarpals separated; III, the alular metacarpal fused with the major metacarpal proximally but separated distally; IV and V, the ilium, ischium, and pubis fused around the acetabulum; VI and VII, alular and major metacarpals completely fused along their length. The green thick lines denote the taxa with fused pelvis, and the red thick lines indicate taxa with fused alular and major metacarpals. Late Cretaceous birds are denoted in shaded background. The line drawings are not to scale.