Defining a Monophyletic Cardinalini
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 45 (2007) 1014–1032 www.elsevier.com/locate/ympev Defining a monophyletic Cardinalini: A molecular perspective John Klicka a,*, Kevin Burns b, Garth M. Spellman a,1 a Barrick Museum of Natural History, Box 454012, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland, Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4012, USA b Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4614, USA Received 28 March 2007; revised 29 June 2007; accepted 10 July 2007 Available online 19 July 2007 Abstract Within the New World nine-primaried oscine assemblage, feeding morphology and behavior have long been used as a guideline for assigning membership to subgroups. For example, birds with stout, conical bills capable of crushing heavy seeds have generally been placed within the tribe Cardinalini (cardinal-grosbeaks). Many workers have tried to characterize this group more definitively, using a variety of morphological characters; however, the characters used often conflicted with one another. Previous molecular studies addressing the monophyly of Cardinalini have had only limited sampling within the group. In this study, we analyze mtDNA sequence data from all genera and 34 of the 42 Cardinalini species (sensu [Sibley, C.G., Monroe, B.L., 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of the Birds of the World, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT]) to address the monophyly of the group and to reconstruct the most com- plete phylogeny of this tribe published to date. We found strong support for a redefined Cardinalini that now includes some members previously placed within Thraupini (tanagers; the genera Piranga, Habia, Chlorothraupis, and Amaurospiza) and some members previ- ously placed within the Parulini (wood-warblers; the genus Granatellus).
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