Amaral Fabio S Raposo do, Miller Matthew J, Silveira Luís Fábio, Bermingham Eldredge, Wajntal Anita
Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Universidade de São Paulo, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
BMC Evol Biol. 2006 Feb 7;6:10. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-6-10.
The family Accipitridae (hawks, eagles and Old World vultures) represents a large radiation of predatory birds with an almost global distribution, although most species of this family occur in the Neotropics. Despite great morphological and ecological diversity, the evolutionary relationships in the family have been poorly explored at all taxonomic levels. Using sequences from four mitochondrial genes (12S, ATP8, ATP6, and ND6), we reconstructed the phylogeny of the Neotropical forest hawk genus Leucopternis and most of the allied genera of Neotropical buteonines. Our goals were to infer the evolutionary relationships among species of Leucopternis, estimate their relationships to other buteonine genera, evaluate the phylogenetic significance of the white and black plumage patterns common to most Leucopternis species, and assess general patterns of diversification of the group with respect to species' affiliations with Neotropical regions and habitats.
Our molecular phylogeny for the genus Leucopternis and its allies disagrees sharply with traditional taxonomic arrangements for the group, and we present new hypotheses of relationships for a number of species. The mtDNA phylogenetic trees derived from analysis of the combined data posit a polyphyletic relationship among species of Leucopternis, Buteogallus and Buteo. Three highly supported clades containing Leucopternis species were recovered in our phylogenetic reconstructions. The first clade consisted of the sister pairs L. lacernulatus and Buteogallus meridionalis, and Buteogallus urubitinga and Harpyhaliaetus coronatus, in addition to L. schistaceus and L. plumbeus. The second clade included the sister pair Leucopternis albicollis and L. occidentalis as well as L. polionotus. The third lineage comprised the sister pair L. melanops and L. kuhli, in addition to L. semiplumbeus and Buteo buteo. According to our results, the white and black plumage patterns have evolved at least twice in the group. Furthermore, species found to the east and west of the Andes (cis-Andean and trans-Andean, respectively) are not reciprocally monophyletic, nor are forest and non-forest species.
The polyphyly of Leucopternis, Buteogallus and Buteo establishes a lack of concordance of current Accipitridae taxonomy with the mtDNA phylogeny for the group, and points to the need for further phylogenetic analysis at all taxonomic levels in the family as also suggested by other recent analyses. Habitat shifts, as well as cis- and trans-Andean disjunctions, took place more than once during buteonine diversification in the Neotropical region. Overemphasis of the black and white plumage patterns has led to questionable conclusions regarding the relationships of Leucopternis species, and suggests more generally that plumage characters should be used with considerable caution in the taxonomic evaluation of the Accipitridae.
鹰科（鹰、雕和旧大陆秃鹫）是一类分布几乎遍及全球的大型肉食性鸟类，不过该科大多数物种分布于新热带区。尽管在形态和生态方面具有高度多样性，但该科在所有分类阶元上的进化关系都鲜有研究。我们利用四个线粒体基因（12S、ATP8、ATP6和ND6）的序列，重建了新热带林鹰属白翅鹰属以及新热带鵟亚科大多数近缘属的系统发育。我们的目标是推断白翅鹰属各物种之间的进化关系，估计它们与其他鵟亚科属的关系，评估大多数白翅鹰属物种共有的白色和黑色羽毛图案的系统发育意义，并根据物种与新热带区和栖息地的归属关系评估该类群的总体多样化模式。
我们对白翅鹰属及其近缘属的分子系统发育分析结果与该类群的传统分类安排存在显著差异，我们提出了一些物种关系的新假说。通过对合并数据的分析得出的线粒体DNA系统发育树显示，白翅鹰属、凤头鹰属和鵟属的物种之间存在多系关系。在我们的系统发育重建中，发现了三个得到高度支持的包含白翅鹰属物种的分支。第一个分支由白翅鹰属的白腹鹰与凤头鹰属的条纹鹰、凤头鹰属的乌纹鹰与冠雕属的冠雕，以及白翅鹰属的铅灰鹰和淡灰鹰组成姐妹对。第二个分支包括白翅鹰属的白颈鹰和西方白翅鹰以及白翅鹰属的点斑鹰组成的姐妹对。第三个分支除了白翅鹰属的半铅灰鹰和鵟属的普通鵟外，还包括白翅鹰属的黑眼鹰和库氏鹰组成的姐妹对。根据我们的结果，白色和黑色羽毛图案在该类群中至少独立进化了两次。此外，安第斯山脉以东和以西（分别为安第斯山脉内侧和外侧）发现的物种并非相互单系，森林物种和非森林物种也不是。
白翅鹰属、凤头鹰属和鵟属的多系性表明，当前鹰科的分类与该类群的线粒体DNA系统发育不一致，也表明如其他近期分析所建议的，需要对该科所有分类阶元进行进一步的系统发育分析。在新热带区鵟亚科的多样化过程中，栖息地转移以及安第斯山脉内侧和外侧的间断分布不止发生过一次。对白翅鹰属物种关系的结论过度强调黑色和白色羽毛图案，更普遍地表明在鹰科的分类评估中应极其谨慎地使用羽毛特征。
