Mysticete
Well-known member
New paper:
Evolutionary history of a prominent North American warbler clade: The Oporornis–Geothlypis complex
Patricia Escalantea, Laura Márquez-Valdelamara, Patricia de la Torreb, Juan P. Lacletteb and John Klickac
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Volume 53, Issue 3, December 2009, Pages 668-678
not sure if this link will work, so I will paste the taxonomic conclusions below:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=e9184396c0f3bfac99d408018b481efb
"In all analyses, Oporornis formosus was placed within the Geothlypis assemblage, rendering the genus Oporornis polyphyletic. Because the Oporornis forms grade into Geothlypis, a formal transfer of formosus into Geothlypis would still yield a polyphyletic Oporornis. We suggest that the most parsimonious taxonomic solution to this problem is to merge Oporornis (Baird, 1858) into Geothlypis (Cabanis, 1847). The merging of these two genera would allow taxonomy to accurately reflect evolutionary history, with all members of the revised Geothlypis clade now sharing a single common ancestor. This treatment is not without precedent as members of these genera have been merged in previous taxonomies ([AOU, 1886], [AOU, 1895] and Lowery and Monroe, 1968 G.H. Lowery Jr. and B.L. Monroe Jr., Parulidae. In: R.A. Paynter Jr., Editor, Check-list of Birds of the World vol. 14, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1968).[Lowery and Monroe, 1968]).
The Costa Rican form (chiriquensis) of G. aequinoctialis is not a member of that otherwise South American group but is instead allied with semiflava, causing the latter to become paraphyletic. Given that chiriquensis is morphologically distinctive enough to have been traditionally assigned to another species group, merging it into semiflava (as ssp. chiriquensis) seems inappropriate. As an alternative, we suggest that chiriquensis be raised to species status, along with the genetically distinct and allopatric Central (G. bairdi) and South American (G. semiflava) forms of semiflava.
G. aequinoctialis is now comprised of three main South American groups including two “masked” subspecies, a. aequinoctialis (northern South America) and a. velata (central-southern South America), along with a “black-lored” form a. auricularis (Pacific Slope of northern South America). Each is morphologically distinctive, geographically separated, and each was originally described as a species. The genetic data presented here and elsewhere (Escalante-Pliego, 1991) suggest that all three forms are also deserving of recognition as full species.
The trichas complex is comprised of five currently recognized biological species that are organized into three well-supported but closely related clades (rostrata; beldingi plus western trichas; and flavovelata, nelsoni, plus eastern trichas). The overall lack of phylogenetic resolution despite thorough taxonomic sampling and an ample amount of sequence data suggest that all of these represent incipient species, the result of a rapid and recent radiation within Geothlypis. Although trichas is clearly polyphyletic, the data on hand are not sufficient to determine whether the remaining taxa represent independently evolving entities with incomplete lineage sorting or whether they represent morphological variants that remain connected by gene flow. Taxonomic recommendations for these members of the trichas complex must await completion of more detailed analyses involving more individuals and additional types of molecular markers including nuclear genes (Klicka and Escalante, in prep)."
Evolutionary history of a prominent North American warbler clade: The Oporornis–Geothlypis complex
Patricia Escalantea, Laura Márquez-Valdelamara, Patricia de la Torreb, Juan P. Lacletteb and John Klickac
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Volume 53, Issue 3, December 2009, Pages 668-678
not sure if this link will work, so I will paste the taxonomic conclusions below:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=e9184396c0f3bfac99d408018b481efb
"In all analyses, Oporornis formosus was placed within the Geothlypis assemblage, rendering the genus Oporornis polyphyletic. Because the Oporornis forms grade into Geothlypis, a formal transfer of formosus into Geothlypis would still yield a polyphyletic Oporornis. We suggest that the most parsimonious taxonomic solution to this problem is to merge Oporornis (Baird, 1858) into Geothlypis (Cabanis, 1847). The merging of these two genera would allow taxonomy to accurately reflect evolutionary history, with all members of the revised Geothlypis clade now sharing a single common ancestor. This treatment is not without precedent as members of these genera have been merged in previous taxonomies ([AOU, 1886], [AOU, 1895] and Lowery and Monroe, 1968 G.H. Lowery Jr. and B.L. Monroe Jr., Parulidae. In: R.A. Paynter Jr., Editor, Check-list of Birds of the World vol. 14, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1968).[Lowery and Monroe, 1968]).
The Costa Rican form (chiriquensis) of G. aequinoctialis is not a member of that otherwise South American group but is instead allied with semiflava, causing the latter to become paraphyletic. Given that chiriquensis is morphologically distinctive enough to have been traditionally assigned to another species group, merging it into semiflava (as ssp. chiriquensis) seems inappropriate. As an alternative, we suggest that chiriquensis be raised to species status, along with the genetically distinct and allopatric Central (G. bairdi) and South American (G. semiflava) forms of semiflava.
G. aequinoctialis is now comprised of three main South American groups including two “masked” subspecies, a. aequinoctialis (northern South America) and a. velata (central-southern South America), along with a “black-lored” form a. auricularis (Pacific Slope of northern South America). Each is morphologically distinctive, geographically separated, and each was originally described as a species. The genetic data presented here and elsewhere (Escalante-Pliego, 1991) suggest that all three forms are also deserving of recognition as full species.
The trichas complex is comprised of five currently recognized biological species that are organized into three well-supported but closely related clades (rostrata; beldingi plus western trichas; and flavovelata, nelsoni, plus eastern trichas). The overall lack of phylogenetic resolution despite thorough taxonomic sampling and an ample amount of sequence data suggest that all of these represent incipient species, the result of a rapid and recent radiation within Geothlypis. Although trichas is clearly polyphyletic, the data on hand are not sufficient to determine whether the remaining taxa represent independently evolving entities with incomplete lineage sorting or whether they represent morphological variants that remain connected by gene flow. Taxonomic recommendations for these members of the trichas complex must await completion of more detailed analyses involving more individuals and additional types of molecular markers including nuclear genes (Klicka and Escalante, in prep)."
