27 research outputs found
Why neotypification of Lophorina superba (Pennant, 1781) (Aves: Paradisaeidae) is justified-and necessary
No full textSchodde, R., Christidis, L., Batalha-Filho, H., Ericson, P.G.P., Irestedt, M. (2021): Why neotypification of Lophorina superba (Pennant, 1781) (Aves: Paradisaeidae) is justified-and necessary. Zootaxa 4951 (2): 304-320, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4951.2.
Evolution and biogeography of suboscine birds analysed by DNA sequence data – a research program at the Swedish Museum of Natural History
No full textCurrent perspectives on the evolution of birds
No full textThe paper summarizes the current understanding of the evolution and diversification of birds. New insights into this field have mainly come from two fundamentally different, but complementary sources of information: the many newly discovered Mesozoic bird fossils and the wealth of genetic analyses of living birds at various taxonomic levels. The birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs from which they can be defined by but a few morphological characters. The early evolutionary history of the group is characterized by the extinctions of many major clades by the end of the Cretaceous, and by several periods of rapid radiations and speciation. Recent years have seen a growing consensus about the higher- level relationships among living birds, at least as can be deduced from genetic data
Systematic notes on Asian birds. 32. The type locality of Hirundo daurica Laxmann, 1769
No full textThe restricted type locality suggested by Brooke (1974) for Hirundo daurica Laxmann, 1769 was apparently made without a translation of the original Swedish description. With this in hand we find it necessary to correct that restriction and move the type locality some 2500 km west
Tyrant flycatchers coming out in the open : phylogeny and ecological radiation of Tyrannidae (Aves, Passeriformes)
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The evolutionary history of cockatoos (Aves: Psittaciformes: Cacatuidae)
No full textCockatoos are the distinctive family Cacatuidae, a major lineage of the order of parrots (Psittaciformes) and distributed throughout the Australasian region of the world. However, the evolutionary history of cockatoos is not well understood. We investigated the phylogeny of cockatoos based on three mitochondrial and three nuclear DNA genes obtained from 16 of 21 species of Cacatuidae. In addition, five novel mitochondrial genomes were used to estimate time of divergence and our estimates indicate Cacatuidae diverged from Psittacidae approximately 40.7. million years ago (95% CI 51.6-30.3. Ma) during the Eocene. Our data shows Cacatuidae began to diversify approximately 27.9. Ma (95% CI 38.1-18.3. Ma) during the Oligocene. The early to middle Miocene (20-10. Ma) was a significant period in the evolution of modern Australian environments and vegetation, in which a transformation from mainly mesic to xeric habitats (e.g., fire-adapted sclerophyll vegetation and grasslands) occurred. We hypothesize that this environmental transformation was a driving force behind the diversification of cockatoos. A detailed multi-locus molecular phylogeny enabled us to resolve the phylogenetic placements of the Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus), Galah (Eolophus roseicapillus), Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum) and Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus), which have historically been difficult to place within Cacatuidae. When the molecular evidence is analysed in concert with morphology, it is clear that many of the cockatoo species' diagnostic phenotypic traits such as plumage colour, body size, wing shape and bill morphology have evolved in parallel or convergently across lineages
Phylogeny and biogeography of minivets (Passeriformes: Campephagidae: Pericrocotus:Implications for biogeography and convergent plumage evolution
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