Coracoid
A coracoid is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals. In therian mammals, a coracoid process is present as part of the scapula, but this is not homologous with the coracoid bone of most other animals.
In other tetrapods it joins the scapula to the front end of the sternum and has a notch on the dorsal surface which, along with a similar notch on the ventral surface of the scapula, forms the socket in which the proximal end of the humerus is located. The acrocoracoid process is an expansion adjacent to this contact surface, to which the shoulderward end of the biceps brachii muscle attaches in these animals. In birds, the entire unit is rigid and called scapulocoracoid. This plays a major role in bird flight. In dinosaurs the main bones of the pectoral girdle were the scapula and the coracoid, both of which directly articulated with the clavicle.
In fish it provides the base for the pectoral fin.
Monotremes, as well as the extinct therapsids, possess both the coracoid bone of reptiles, and the coracoid process of other mammals, with the latter being present as a separate bone.
