Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2603 No. 1: 6 Sep. 2010
Type: Articles
Published: 2010-09-06
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2603.1.2
Page range: 53–60
Abstract views: 223
PDF downloaded: 10

Molecular phylogeny of the spoonbills (Aves: Threskiornithidae) based on mitochondrial DNA

U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560 USA
Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University. 88, Section 4, Tingchou Road, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan, R.O.C.
Endemic Species Research Institute, Chi-chi, Nantou 552 Taiwan R.O.C. Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng-kung University , Tainan 701, Taiwan R.O.C.
College of Wildlife, Northeast Forestry University. No.26 Hexing Road, Xiangfang District, Harbin, P. R. China 150040
Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University. 88, Section 4, Tingchou Road, Taipei, 11677 Taiwan, R.O.C.
Aves spoonbills Platalea Threskiornithidae mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

Spoonbills (genus Platalea) are a small group of wading birds, generally considered to constitute the subfamily Plataleinae (Aves: Threskiornithidae). We reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among the six species of spoonbills using variation in sequences of the mitochondrial genes ND2 and cytochrome b (total 1796 bp). Topologies of phylogenetic trees reconstructed using maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian analyses were virtually identical and supported monophyly of the spoonbills. Most relationships within Platalea received strong support: P. minor and P. regia were closely related sister species, P. leucorodia was sister to the minor-regia clade, and P. alba was sister to the minor-regia-leucorodia clade. Relationships of P. flavipes and P. ajaja were less well resolved: these species either formed a clade that was sister to the four-species clade, or were successive sisters to this clade. This phylogeny is consistent with ideas of relatedness derived from spoonbill morphology. Our limited sampling of the Threskiornithinae (ibises), the putative sister group to the spoonbills, indicated that this group is paraphyletic, in agreement with previous molecular data; this suggests that separation of the Threskiornithidae into subfamilies Plataleinae and Threskiornithinae may not be warranted.

References

  1. Amadon, D. & Woolfenden, G. (1952) Notes on the Mathews’ collection of Australian birds: the order Ciconiiformes. American Museum Novitates, 1564, 1–16.

    Anisimova, M. & Gascuel, O. (2006) Approximate likelihood ratio test for branches: A fast, accurate and powerful alternative. Systematic Biology, 55, 539–552.

    Chesser, R.T., Banks, R.C., Barker, F.K., Cicero, C., Dunn, J.L., Kratter, A.W., Lovette, I.J., Rasmussen, P.C., Remsen, J.V., Rising, J.D., Stotz, D.F. & Winker, K. (2010) Fifty-first supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk, 127, 726–744.

    Felsenstein, J. (1985) Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution 79, 783–791.

    Fleischer, R.C. & McIntosh, C.E. (2001) Molecular systematics and biogeography of the Hawaiian avifauna. Studies in Avian Biology, 22, 51–60.

    Gemmell, N.J. & Akiyama, S. (1996) An efficient method for the extraction of DNA from vertebrate tissues. Trends in Genetics, 12, 338–339.

    Guindon, S. & Gascuel, O. (2003) A simple, fast and accurate method to estimate large phylogenies by maximum-likelihood. Systematic Biology, 52, 696–704.

    Hackett, S.J., Kimball, R.T., Reddy, S., Bowie, R.C.K., Braun, E.L.,. Braun, M.J., Chojnowski, J.L., Cox, W.A., Han, K., Harshman, J., Huddleston, C.J., Marks, B.D.,Miglia, K.J., Moore, W.S., Sheldon, F.H., Steadman, D.W., Witt, C.C., & Yuri, T. (2008) A phylogenomic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history. Science, 320, 1763–1768.

    Hancock, J.A., Kushlan, J.A. & Kahl, M.P. (1992) Storks, ibises and spoonbills of the world. Academic Press, London.

    Huelsenbeck, J.P. & Rannala, B. (2004) Frequentist properties of Bayesian posterior probabilities of phylogenetic trees under simple and complex substitution models. Systematic Biology, 53, 904–913.

    Kahl, M.P. (1988) Breeding displays of Australian spoonbills. National Geographic Research, 4, 88–111.

    Matheu, E. & del Hoyo, J. (1992) Family Threskiornithidae in Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 1. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

    Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. (1889) On the genus Platalea, with a description of a new species from New Guinea. Ibis, 1889, 32–58.

    Peters, J.L. (1931) Check-list of Birds of the World, Vol. 1. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge.

    Posada, D. & Buckley, T.R. (2004) Model selection and model averaging in phylogenetics: advantages of the AIC and Bayesian approaches over likelihood ratio tests. Systematic Biology, 53, 793–808.

    Ronquist, F. & Huelsenbeck, J.P. (2003) MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics, 19, 1572–1574.

    Seebohm, H. (1890) The Birds of the Japanese Empire. R. H. Porter, London.

    Sibley, C.G. & Ahlquist, J.E. (1990) Phylogeny and Classification of Birds. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, Connecticut.

    Sorenson, M.D. & Quinn, T.W. (1998) Numts: a challenge for avian systematics and population biology. Auk, 115, 214–221.

    Steinbacher, J. (1979) Family Threskiornithidae in Check-list of Birds of the World, Vol. 1 (second edition). Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge.

    Stemmer W.P.C. (1994) DNA shuffling by random fragmentation and reassembly: in vitro recombination for molecular evolution. PNAS, 91, 10747–10751.

    Swofford, D.L. (2002) Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony*, version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.

    Tamura, K., Dudley, J., Nei, M. & Kumar, S. (2007) MEGA4: Molecular Evolutionary Genetic Analysis (MEGA) software version 4.0. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 24, 1596–1599.