Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world's babblers (Aves: Passeriformes)

Tianlong Cai; Alice Cibois; Per Alström; Robert G Moyle; Jonathan D Kennedy; Shimiao Shao; Ruiying Zhang; Martin Irestedt; Per G P Ericson; Magnus Gelang; Yanhua Qu; Fumin Lei; Jon Fjeldså

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010

Near-complete phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the world's babblers (Aves: Passeriformes)

Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2019 Jan:130:346-356. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010. Epub 2018 Oct 12.

Authors

Tianlong Cai¹, Alice Cibois², Per Alström³, Robert G Moyle⁴, Jonathan D Kennedy⁵, Shimiao Shao⁶, Ruiying Zhang⁷, Martin Irestedt⁸, Per G P Ericson⁸, Magnus Gelang⁹, Yanhua Qu¹⁰, Fumin Lei¹¹, Jon Fjeldså⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
² Natural History Museum of Geneva, CP 6434, CH 1211 Geneva 6, Switzerland.
³ Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7007, Uppsala SE-750 07, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
⁵ Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁶ State Forestry Administration Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Conservation in Southwest China, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.
⁷ College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Center for Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁸ Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, Stockholm SE-10405, Sweden.
⁹ Gothenburg Natural History Museum, Box 7283, 402 35 Göteborg, Sweden.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
¹¹ Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: leifm@ioz.ac.cn.

PMID: 30321696
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.010

Abstract

The babblers are a diverse group of passerine birds comprising 452 species. The group was long regarded as a "scrap basket" in taxonomic classification schemes. Although several studies have assessed the phylogenetic relationships for subsets of babblers during the past two decades, a comprehensive phylogeny of this group has been lacking. In this study, we used five mitochondrial and seven nuclear loci to generate a dated phylogeny for babblers. This phylogeny includes 402 species (ca. 89% of the overall clade) from 75 genera (97%) and all five currently recognized families, providing a robust basis for taxonomic revision. Our phylogeny supports seven major clades and reveals several non-monophyletic genera. Divergence time estimates indicate that the seven major clades diverged around the same time (18-20 million years ago, Ma) in the early Miocene. We use the phylogeny in a consistent way to propose a new taxonomy, with seven families and 64 genera of babblers, and a new linear sequence of names.

Keywords: Babblers; Passeriformes; Phylogeny; Rogue taxa; Supertree; Taxonomy; Temporal banding.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
Likelihood Functions
Passeriformes / classification*
Passeriformes / genetics
Phylogeny*
Time Factors

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial