Maurício Giovanni Nachtigall, Mata Helena, Bornschein Marcos Ricardo, Cadena Carlos Daniel, Alvarenga Herculano, Bonatto Sandro L
Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Laboratório de Ornitologia, Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. Av. Ipiranga, 6681, CEP 90619-900, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2008 Oct;49(1):125-35. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2008.06.017. Epub 2008 Jul 2.
The genus Scytalopus is a species-rich and taxonomically complicated component of the Neotropical avian family Rhinocryptidae. Probably because Scytalopus is a superficially uniform assemblage, its monophyly has not been seriously questioned. We investigated phylogenetic relationships of a representative set of species in the genus using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences as well as anatomical data, and provided the first test of its presumed monophyly by including in the analyses its hypothesized closest relatives (the genera Myornis, Eugralla, and Merulaxis) as well as most rhinocryptid genera. We found strong support for the paraphyly of the genus Scytalopus, with the Scytalopus indigoticus species-group forming a clade with Merulaxis. A well-supported clade including the genera Eugralla, Myornis, and the remaining Scytalopus was also recovered. Because these results were recovered independently and with strong support using mitochondrial and nuclear data, and were entirely consistent with anatomical data, we erect a new genus for the S.indigoticus species-group. These findings illustrate the importance of formally testing hypotheses of monophyly even for well-accepted groups of Neotropical birds.
斯氏蚁鸫属（Scytalopus）是新热带界蚁鸫科（Rhinocryptidae）中物种丰富且分类复杂的一个组成部分。可能由于斯氏蚁鸫属在外观上较为统一，其单系性尚未受到严重质疑。我们利用核DNA和线粒体DNA序列以及解剖学数据，研究了该属一组代表性物种的系统发育关系，并通过在分析中纳入其假定的近缘属（Myornis属、Eugralla属和Merulaxis属）以及大多数蚁鸫科属，首次对其假定的单系性进行了检验。我们发现有力证据支持斯氏蚁鸫属为并系群，靛蓝斯氏蚁鸫（Scytalopus indigoticus）物种组与Merulaxis属形成一个进化枝。还得到了一个得到充分支持的进化枝，包括Eugralla属、Myornis属以及其余的斯氏蚁鸫属。由于这些结果是使用线粒体和核数据独立获得且得到有力支持的，并且与解剖学数据完全一致，我们为靛蓝斯氏蚁鸫物种组建立了一个新属。这些发现说明了即使对于新热带界鸟类中已被广泛接受的类群，正式检验单系性假设的重要性。
