Museo de Zoología de Vertebrados QCAZ, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076, Quito, Ecuador, USA.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2010 Mar;54(3):897-909. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2009.11.014. Epub 2009 Dec 3.
Phylogenetic relationships were studied in the genus Cyanocorax (Aves: Corvidae) and related genera, Psilorhinus and Calocitta, a diverse group of New World jays distributed from the southern United States south to Argentina. Although the ecology and behavior of some species in the group have been studied extensively, lack of a molecular phylogeny has precluded rigorous interpretations in an evolutionary framework. Given the diverse combinations of plumage coloration, size, and morphology, the taxonomy of the group has been inconsistent and understanding of biogeographic patterns problematic. Moreover, plumage similarity between two geographically disjuct species, the Tufted jay (Cyanocorax dickeyi) from western Mexico and the White-tailed jay (C. mystacalis) from western Ecuador and Peru, has puzzled ornithologists for decades. Here, a phylogeny of all species in the three genera is presented, based on study of two mitochondrial and three nuclear genes. Phylogenetic trees revealed the non-monophyly of Cyanocorax, and the division of the whole assemblage in two groups: "Clade A" containing Psilorhinus morio, both species in Calocitta,Cyanocorax violaceus, C. caeruleus, C. cristatellus, and C. cyanomelas, and "Clade B" consisting of the remaining species in Cyanocorax. Relationships among species in Clade A were ambiguous and, in general, not well resolved. Within Clade B, analyses revealed the monophyly of the "Cissilopha" jays and showed no evidence for a sister relationship between C. mystacalis and C. dickeyi. The phylogenetic complexity of lineages in the group suggests several complications for the understanding biogeographic patterns, as well as for proposing a taxonomy that is consistent with morphological variation. Although multiple taxonomic arrangements are possible, recommendations are for recognizing only one genus, Cyanocorax, with Psilorhinus and Calocitta as synonyms.
在雀形目鸦科的蓝鸦属(Cyanocorax)及其近缘属——红嘴山鸦属(Psilorhinus)和唐纳雀属(Calocitta)中,研究了系统发育关系。这些蓝鸦属的鸟类广泛分布于新大陆,从美国南部一直延伸到阿根廷。尽管该类群中的一些物种的生态和行为已经得到了广泛的研究,但由于缺乏分子系统发育关系,无法在进化框架内进行严格的解释。鉴于该类群的羽毛颜色、大小和形态的多样化组合,其分类一直不一致,对生物地理模式的理解也存在问题。此外,两个地理上不相邻的物种——来自墨西哥西部的簇羽蓝鸦(Cyanocorax dickeyi)和来自厄瓜多尔和秘鲁西部的白尾蓝鸦(C. mystacalis)——之间的羽毛相似性几十年来一直让鸟类学家感到困惑。在这里,我们基于对两个线粒体和三个核基因的研究,提出了这三个属中所有物种的系统发育关系。系统发育树显示蓝鸦属并非单系,整个集合分为两组:“A 群”包含红嘴山鸦、唐纳雀属的两个物种、紫蓝鸦、蓝鸦、冠蓝鸦和蓝颊蓝鸦,以及“B 群”由蓝鸦属的其余物种组成。A 群中物种之间的关系模棱两可,总体上没有得到很好的解决。在 B 群中,分析结果揭示了“Cissilopha”蓝鸦的单系性,并且没有证据表明白尾蓝鸦和簇羽蓝鸦之间存在姐妹关系。该类群的系统发育复杂性表明,对于理解生物地理模式以及提出与形态变异一致的分类学建议,存在一些复杂情况。尽管有多种分类安排是可能的,但建议只承认一个属——蓝鸦属,而将红嘴山鸦属和唐纳雀属作为同义词。