Advances on tinamou phylogeny

BERTELLI, SARA; PORZECANSKI, A.L.; CUNHA ALMEIDA, F.; CRACRAFT, J.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXXV Annual Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society; 2016

Tinamous(Tinamidae) comprise 47 species of Central and South American birdsinhabiting forested as well as open environments. Although volant,the flight capabilities of these Neotropical birds are limited.Numerous studies have recognized the monophyly of tinamous and theirrelationship to the flightlessratites (ostriches, emus, and their relatives), placing both groupswithin palaeognaths, a sister clade to all extant birds (Neoaves). Inspite of this body of work, the phylogenetic relationships among thespecies of tinamous remained overlooked until recently. Here wediscuss previous phylogenetic hypotheses based on morphologicalevidence, in particular a recent phylogeneticstudy of all extinct and living species of tinamous. Finally,preliminary results combining morphology and DNA sequences are alsoreported. Morphological characters performed optimally at differenthierarquical levels, also providing resolution and varying degrees ofsupport at supra- and intrageneric nodes. The mutual interaction ofmolecular and morphological data provides a resolved, relativelywell-supported phylogeny of tinamous.