A phylogeny of white-eyes based on ultraconserved elements

Carl H Oliveros; Michael J Andersen; Robert G Moyle

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107273

A phylogeny of white-eyes based on ultraconserved elements

Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2021 Nov:164:107273. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107273. Epub 2021 Jul 29.

Authors

Carl H Oliveros¹, Michael J Andersen², Robert G Moyle³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
² Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
³ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. Electronic address: moyle@ku.edu.

PMID: 34333115
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107273

Abstract

White-eyes are an iconic radiation of passerine birds that have been the subject of studies in evolutionary biology, biogeography, and speciation theory. Zosterops white-eyes in particular are thought to have radiated rapidly across continental and insular regions of the Afro- and Indo-Pacific tropics, yet their phylogenetic history remains equivocal. Here, we sampled 77% of the genera and 47% of known white-eye species and sequenced thousands of ultraconserved elements to infer the phylogeny of the avian family Zosteropidae. We used concatenated maximum likelihood and species tree methods and found strong support for seven clades of white-eyes and three clades within the species-rich Zosterops radiation.

Keywords: Islands; Radiation; UCEs; White-eyes; Zosteropidae.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Base Sequence
Eye Color* / genetics
Passeriformes* / anatomy & histology
Passeriformes* / genetics
Phylogeny*