A Molecular Phylogeny of the Pheasants and Partridges Suggests That These Lineages Are Not Monophyletic

• Published in: Molecular phylogenetics and evolution Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 38 - 54
• Main Authors: Kimball, R.T., Braun, E.L., Zwartjes, P.W., Crowe, T.M., Ligon, J.D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.02.1999
• Subjects: Animals; Base Sequence; Birds - genetics; Cytochrome b Group - genetics; DNA, Mitochondrial - chemistry; DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics; Evolution, Molecular; Mitochondria - genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
• ISSN: 1055-7903; 1095-9513
• DOI: 10.1006/mpev.1998.0562

Cytochromeband D-loop nucleotide sequences were used to study patterns of molecular evolution and phylogenetic relationships between the pheasants and the partridges, which are thought to form two closely related monophyletic galliform lineages. Our analyses used 34 complete cytochromeband 22 partial D-loop sequences from the hypervariable domain I of the D-loop, representing 20 pheasant species (15 genera) and 12 partridge species (5 genera). We performed parsimony, maximum likelihood, and distance analyses to resolve these phylogenetic relationships. In this data set, transversion analyses gave results similar to those of global analyses. All of our molecular phylogenetic analyses indicated that the pheasants and partridges arose through a rapid radiation, making it difficult to establish higher level relationships. However, we were able to establish six major lineages containing pheasant and partridge taxa, including one lineage containing both pheasants and partridges (Gallus, BambusicolaandFrancolinus). This result, supported by maximum likelihood tests, indicated that the pheasants and partridges do not form independent monophyletic lineages.