Acta Zoologica Sinica, Vol. 52 (supplement) pp. 358-361

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Supra-generic cladistics of landfowl (Order Galliformes).

Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa (T.M.C., P.B); Dept. of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA (T.M.C., J.G.G.); Department of Genetics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, South Africa (P.B.); Istituto Nazionale per la Fauna Selvatica (INFS), via Ca' Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia (BO), Italy (E.R., V.L.); Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA (R.T.K., E.B.)

Molecular and organismal evidence bearing on the evolutionary relationships of gamebirds within the order Galliformes is reviewed. The monophyly of most traditionally recognized supra-generic taxa is supported, but the Phasianini (pheasants) and Perdicini (partridges and quails) are shown to be polyphyletic. Contrary to DNA-DNA hybridization data, New World quails (Odontophoridae) did not branch off the galliform evolutionary tree before the guineafowl (Numididae), but rather immediately after; and the cracids (Cracidae) and megapodes (Megapodiidae) are not sister groups of one another. Evidence is presented to support the notion of very early divergence among species currently confined to the New World, Africa and southeast Asia. Evidence from mtDNA sequences (cytochrome b and D-loop), proteins (ovomucoids), life history, behavior, and bones and feathers is analyzed phylogenetically in three ways: separately, combined and combined but differentially weighted. Separate analysis always produces less well-resolved trees than those suggested by combined data; and deweighting putatively less informative evidence undermines rather than enhances phylogenetic signal. Furthermore, analysis of combined data produces a tree with a novel, but biogeographically meaningful, topology, with organismal and molecular information more useful at respective more basal and more terminal branches of the tree.