A phylogeny of penguins (Order: Sphenisciformes)

BERTELLI, S.; GIANNINI, N.P.

Quebec

Congreso; One Hundred and Twenty-second Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union; 2004

American Ornithologists' Union

A phylogeny of penguins was estimated on the basis of 151 morphological characters that included osteology (63 characters), myology (15), integument (66), and breeding traits (7 characters)scored in 18 extant forms (all currently recognized species plus 1 distinct subspecies). Gavia was placed at the root, and 11 species of representative procellariiform groups completed the outgroup. A heuristic parsimony analysis under equal weights was performed. Tree resolution was almost complete, with the 2 trees obtained differing only in 1 grouping within Spheniscus. The analysis recovered monophyly of Sphenisciformes and all the traditional polytypic genera. The ingroup topology was (Eudyptula + Spheniscus) (Aptenodytes (Pygosceiis (Megadyptes + Eudyptes)))). All genera and some suprageneric groups (e.g., Megadyptes + Eudyptes) were well-supported. Morphological characters performed optimally at the ordinai and generic level, also providing resolution and varying degrees of support at the supra- and intrageneric levels.