School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2011 Jun;59(3):615-22. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.011. Epub 2011 Mar 16.
Cockatoos 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.
凤头鹦鹉是典型的凤头鹦鹉科家族，是鹦鹉目（Psittaciformes）的一个主要谱系，分布于世界的澳大拉西亚地区。然而，凤头鹦鹉的进化历史还不是很清楚。我们基于从凤头鹦鹉科的 21 个物种中的 16 个获得的三个线粒体和三个核 DNA 基因，研究了凤头鹦鹉的系统发育。此外，我们还使用了五个新的线粒体基因组来估计分歧时间，我们的估计表明，凤头鹦鹉科大约在 4070 万年前（95%置信区间为 5160-3030 百万年前）与鹦鹉科分化，发生在始新世。我们的数据表明，凤头鹦鹉科大约在 2790 万年前（95%置信区间为 3810-1830 百万年前）在渐新世开始多样化。中新世早期到中期（20-10 百万年前）是澳大利亚现代环境和植被演变的重要时期，在此期间，主要从中湿生境向干燥生境（例如，适应火灾的硬叶植被和草原）发生转变。我们假设这种环境转变是凤头鹦鹉多样化的驱动力。详细的多基因分子系统发育使我们能够解决棕榈凤头鹦鹉（Probosciger aterrimus）、葵花凤头鹦鹉（Eolophus roseicapillus）、凤头鹦鹉（Callocephalon fimbriatum）和鸡尾鹦鹉（Nymphicus hollandicus）的系统发育位置，这些物种在历史上一直难以在凤头鹦鹉科中定位。当分子证据与形态学一起进行分析时，很明显，许多凤头鹦鹉物种的诊断表型特征，如羽毛颜色、体型、翅膀形状和喙形态，在谱系中是平行或趋同进化的。
