Abstract

The leaf warbler radiation (Aves: Phylloscopidae) has undergone a c. 50% increase in the number of recognised species over the last three decades, mainly as a result of analyses of vocalisations and DNA. Using a multilocus dataset for all of the species in this family, and multispecies coalescent-based as well as concatenation methods, we provide the first complete species-level phylogeny for this important group, as well as an estimate of the timing of diversification. The most recent common ancestor for the family was dated at 11.7 million years ago (mya) (95% highest posterior density 9.8-13.7 mya), and divergence times between sister species ranged from 0.5 mya (0.3-0.8 mya) to 6.1 mya (4.8-7.5 mya). Based on our results, we support synonymising Seicercus with Phylloscopus, which results in a monogeneric Phylloscopidae. We discuss the pros and cons of this treatment, and we argue against proliferation of taxonomic names, and conclude that a large monogeneric Phylloscopidae leads to the fewest taxonomic changes compared to traditional classifications.We briefly discuss morphological evolution in the light of the phylogeny. The time calibrated phylogeny is a major improvement compared to previous studies based on a smaller number of species and loci and can provide a basis for future studies of other aspects of phylloscopid evolution.

Keywords

Species tree; Concatenation; Taxonomic revision

Published in

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
2018, Volume: 126, pages: 141-152
Publisher: ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

SLU Authors

• Alström, Per

  • SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Uppsala University

UKÄ Subject classification

Biological Systematics
Evolutionary Biology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.031

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/96064