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Molecules Vs. Morphology in Avian Evolution: the Case of the "Pelecaniform" Birds (DNA-DNA Hybridization/Mtdna Sequences/Phylogeny/Systematics) S

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Molecules Vs. Morphology in Avian Evolution: the Case of the Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 91, pp. 9861-9865, October 1994 Evolution Molecules vs. morphology in avian evolution: The case of the "pelecaniform" birds (DNA-DNA hybridization/mtDNA sequences/phylogeny/systematics) S. BLAIR HEDGES* AND CHARLES G. SIBLEYt *I)partment of Biology and Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, 208 Mueller Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; and 433 Woodley Place, Santa Rosa, CA 95409 Contributed by Charles G. Sibley, June 20, 1994 ABSTRACT The traditional avian Order Pelecaniformes the three front toes has evolved in groups with separate is composed ofbirds with all four toes connected by a web. This origins-e.g., ducks, gulls, flamingos, and albatrosses. Could "totipalmate" condition is found in ca. 66 living species: 8 the totipalmate condition, which occurs in fewer species, also pelicans (Pelecanus), 9 boobies and gannets (Sula, Papasula, have multiple origins? Sibley and Ahlquist (2) reviewed the Morus), ca. 37 cormorants (Phalacrocorax), 4 anhingas or literature from 1758 to 1990. darters (Anhinga), 5 frigatebirds (Fregata), and 3 tropicbirds There have been many morphological studies of the pele- (Phaethon). Several additional characters are shared by these caniforms; those ofLanham (3), Saiff(4), and Cracraft (5) are genera, and their monophyly has been assumed since the among the most recent. Lanham (3) recognized their diversity beginning of modern zoological nomenclature. Most ornithol- but concluded that the totipalmate birds form a natural order. ogists classify these genera as an order, although tropicbirds He assigned Phaethon and Fregata to separate suborders, have been viewed as related to terns, and frigatebirds as the other genera to the suborder Pelecani, and suggested that relatives of the petrels and albatrosses. DNA-DNA hybridiza- the nearest relatives of the pelecaniforms are the procellari- tion data indicated that the pelicans are most closely related to iforms (shearwaters, petrels, and albatrosses). Saiff (4) stud- the Shoebill (Bakniceps rex), a-stork-like bird that lives in the ied the middle ear region of the pelecaniforms and of the swamps of central Africa; the boobies, gannets, cormorants, herons and storks. He concluded that the Shoebill (Balaen- and anhingas form a closely related cluster; the tropicbirds are iceps rex) (Fig. 1), which lives in the swamps of central not closely related to the other taxa; and the frigatebirds are Africa, is more closely related to the pelecaniforms than to closest to the penguins, loons, petrels, shearwaters, and alba- the herons and storks, and that Phaethon resembles the trosses (Procellarloidea). Most of these results are corrobo- procellariiforms but is quite distant from them. Cracraft (5) rated by DNA sequences of the 12S and 16S rRNA mitochon- conducted a "phylogenetic analysis ... to evaluate the drial genes, and they provide another example of incongruence monophyly of the Pelecaniformes and to determine interfa- between classifications derived from morphological versus milial relationships within the order." He analyzed 52 char- genetic traits. acters with "numerical cladistic" methods and concluded that "Pelecaniform monophyly was highly corroborated, Until recently, morphological characters have been the prin- with 12 postulated synapomorphies supporting the hypothe- cipal, and virtually the only, source of evidence for organiz- sis." (Fig. 2 Upper). ing species into larger categories in the construction of Sibley and Ahlquist (2) compared the genomes of repre- classifications. The traditional Order Pelecaniformes (peli- sentative species ofpelecaniforms and other major groups of cans, cormorants, anhingas and darters, boobies and gan- living birds with the technique of DNA-DNA hybridization. nets, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds) has been defined by the Most of the results agreed with classifications based on totipalmate foot, in which the hallux is turned forward and morphological characters, but several disagreed (Fig. 2 Low- connected by a web to digit II, in addition to the webs er). Among the most surprising departures was evidence that between digits II and III and between III and IV. In other the pelicans are more closely related to the Shoebill (Fig. 1) birds with webbed feet only the three front toes (digits II, III, than to the other totipalmate birds. However, this was not the IV) are connected by webs, and the hallux is free or absent; first suggestion of a close relationship between pelicans and no bird has five toes. Of the totipalmate birds all but the the Shoebill. In addition to the study by Saiff (4), noted tropicbirds have an obvious gular pouch; the frigatebird's above, Cottam (8) made an osteological study ofthe Shoebill, gular pouch is inflatable and used in display, thus differing herons, storks, and pelecaniforms and concluded that the from those of the other species. The combination of totipal- Shoebill "could occupy a monotypic family in the Order mate feet and gular pouch has seemed so unlikely to evolve Pelecaniformes, possibly near the Pelecanidae." J. M. Lo- more than once that the monophyly of the group has been wenstein, from radioimmunoassay comparisons of proteins, widely accepted since Linnaeus (1) placed them in the genera concluded that Pelecanus is not closely related to the other Pelecanus (pelicans, cormorants, boobies, anhingas, and totipalmate taxa. Lowenstein was so surprised by his results frigatebirds) and Phaethon (tropicbirds). They also share the that he assumed that the material must have been degraded location of the salt-excreting gland within the orbit instead of and did not publish his data, but he gave Sibley and Ahlquist in a supraorbital groove, and they lack an incubation patch permission to do so (ref. 2, pp. 500-502). which is present in all other seabirds and waterbirds. How- Sibley and Ahlquist (ref. 2, pp. 502-503) concluded that ever, they vary in pelvic musculature, carotid artery arrange- "This group may present the most complex and controversial ment, and several other anatomical characters. The similar- questions in the avian phylogeny. Is it possible that the ities argue for monophyly; the differences raise the possibility totipalmate foot, lack of an incubation patch, the intraorbital ofpolyphyly. The palmate avian foot with two webs between salt gland, and other shared characters either have evolved more than once or are primitive characters that have been lost The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge in the other lineages of the Ciconiides? This explanation will payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" be rejected as improbable by most morphologists, but it in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. should be considered as an alternative hypothesis to the 9861 Downloaded by guest on September 24, 2021 9862 Evolution: Hedges and Sibley Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91 (1994) '10 4/i .i FIG. 1. (Left) Shoebill. (Center) American White Pelican. (Right) Masked Booby. monophyly of the totipalmate birds. We urge that the possi- 16H12 (TTA GGG AGA GGA TTT GAA CCT CTG) and bility of polyphyly be tested by independent studies of both 16H13 (CCG GTC TGA ACT CAG ATC ACG TA). The 12S molecules and morphology. Whatever the correct answer rRNA primer pair results in an approximately 400-bp frag- may be, it will be instructive." ment that corresponds to the region described in ref. 12. The In this paper we present the results of comparisons among four 16S rRNA primer pairs produce overlapping fragments the DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 12S rRNA and 16S that, whenjoined, correspond approximately to 1.2 kb ofthat rRNA genest of 16 avian taxa, including the totipalmate 1.6-kb gene. genera. These results provide additional evidence that the Double-stranded DNA was amplified (Perlkn-Elmer Gene- traditional Order Pelecaniformes is polyphyletic. Amp PCR System 9600) in 25-30 cycles (940C for 15 s, 50'C for 15 s, 720C for 45 s), and single-stranded DNA in 30-35 cycles (55-600C annealing temperature). The double-stranded DNA MATERIALS AND METHODS was gel purified and used as template for single-stranded DNA sequences ofportions of two mitochondrial genes (12S amplifications, with one of the two primers as limiting (1:100). rRNA and 16S rRNA), totalling 1.7 kb of aligned sequence, Single-stranded DNA was filtered with 30-kDa cut-off filters were obtained from each of the following 15 species ofbirds: (Millipore) prior to sequencing with Taq DNA polymerase. Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Homed Grebe Sequence alignment was performed with ESEE (13), and the (Podiceps auritus), Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon two sequenced regions were combined for all analyses. The aethereus), Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii), Neotropic aligned sequences were analyzed with MEGA (14). Neighbor- Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus), Black Stork (Cico-' joining (15) analyses, except as noted, were performed with nia nigra), California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus), the Jukes-Cantor (16) distance, and statistical confidence of Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), Magnificent Frigatebird the nodes on the trees was inferred by a t test for significance (Fregata magnificens), Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex), Brown of the difference between branch length and zero, expressed Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis as the complement of the probability or confidence proba- adeliae), Common Loon (Gavia immer), Red-throated Loon bility (CP; refs.
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