GALLIFORMES

Dyke, Gareth J., Gulas, Bonnie E. & Crowe, Timothy M., 2003, Suprageneric relationships of galliform birds (Aves, Galliformes): a cladistic analysis of morphological characters, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137 (2), pp. 227-244 : 230

RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN GALLIFORMES

Phylogenetic analysis of the complete data-set (61 terminal taxa [not including the two members of the

Anatidae included in the matrix, Anas and Dendrocygna ]; 102 characters; Appendix 2) using parsimony resulted in the production of 1700 trees, each 612

steps in length ( Fig. 2 ). Based on these trees and their strict component consensus representation ( Fig. 3 ),

the following groupings are supported by the analysis:

(1) Galliformes are a monophyletic group with respect to Anseriformes .

(2) A monophyletic Megapodiidae (e.g. Macrocephalon , Alectura , Megapodius ) is the sister-group to all other Galliformes .

(3) A monophyletic Cracidae (e.g. Ortalis , Penelope , Aburria , Crax , Nothocrax ) is the sister-group to the ‘phasianoids’ (to the exclusion of the Megapodiidae ).

(4) All other phasianoid Galliformes form a monophyletic group with respect to the two, more basal clades Megapodiidae and Cracidae .

(5) The traditional grouping of guineafowl ( Numididae ) is the most basal taxon within the phasianoid Galliformes , although monophyly of these birds is not strictly supported on the basis of the morphological characters employed.

(6) New and Old World quails (i.e. Magaroperdix, Perdix , Coturnix ) form a monophyletic group with respect to other phasianoid taxa.

(7) The remaining Galliformes (including grouse, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, peafowl, tragopans and francolins) comprise a number of smaller clades that are successive sister-taxa with respect to the quails ( Figs 2 , 3 ).

All of these groupings are well supported on the basis of both the morphological character evidence and relevant support statistics.

Figures

Figure 2. One of the 1700 MPTs (612 steps in length; CI = 0.179) recovered by parsimony analysis of the complete data-set for Galliformes (Appendix 2). Characters having a consistency index of 1 in this tree are given across internal nodes (see text for details); filled circle denotes Galliformes. Taxa of Anseriformes used as outgroups are in bold; bootstrap support values for important nodes are given in bold.

Figure 3. Strict consensus representation of 1700 MPTs recovered by parsimony analysis of the complete data-set for Galliformes (Appendix 2). Taxa of Anseriformes used as outgroups are in bold.