Crowe, T.M., P. Bloomer, E. Randi, V. Lucchini, R. Kimball, E. Braun, and J.G. Groth. 2006. Supra-generic cladistics of landfowl (Order Galliformes). Acta Zoologica Sinica 52 (supplement): 358-361.

 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.