Phylogeny and diversification of the gallopheasants (Aves: Galliformes): Testing roles of sexual selection and environmental niche divergence

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The gallopheasants comprise a clade of 22 species including some of the most elaborately plumaged and highly ornamented birds in the world. They also occupy a remarkable breath of environments and habitats, ranging from lowland rainforests to high grasslands and steppes of the Tibetan plateau. Here, we provide the first well-resolved species phylogeny of this charismatic group, inferred from ultraconserved elements, nuclear introns and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Unlike previous studies which found unresolvable relationships and suggested a rapid initial burst of diversification, we identified a well-resolved phylogeny supported in both concatenated and coalescent analytical frameworks, and a steady accrual of lineages through time. Morphological trait reconstructions demonstrated strong phylogenetic signal, not only for highly ornamented males, but also in more cryptically plumaged females. Environmental niche similarly exhibited strong phylogenetic signal. Moreover, evolution of male traits, female traits and environmental niche were all significantly correlated, making it difficult to disentangle their individual roles in gallopheasant diversification.

Original languageEnglish
JournalZoologica Scripta
Volume49
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)549-562
Number of pages14
ISSN0300-3256
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Research areas

  • Lophura, Phasianus, phylogenomics, Syrmaticus, ultraconserved elements, MULTIPLE SEQUENCE ALIGNMENT, CYTOCHROME-B, MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY, PHEASANT, MITOCHONDRIAL, SPECIATION, INFERENCE, EVOLUTION, ACCURACY, TRAITS

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