Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 116, Taiwan.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2011 Oct;61(1):192-202. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.004. Epub 2011 Jun 16.
The parrotbills (Paradoxornithidae, meaning "birds of paradox," Aves) are a group of Old World passerines with perplexing taxonomic histories due to substantial morphological and ecological variation at various levels. In this study, phylogenetic relationships of the parrotbills were reconstructed based on sequences of two mitochondrial segments and three nuclear coding regions. Three major clades with characteristic body size and plumage coloration were found in both mtDNA and nuclear gene trees. However, mtDNA phylogeny suggested that the Paradoxornithidae is paraphyletic and relationships among three major parrotbill clades were poorly resolved. On the contrary, apparent and well-supported monophyletic relationships among the three major clades of Paradoxornithidae were revealed by concatenated nuclear dataset. Since paraphyly based on mtDNA data has commonly been found within avian taxa, the conflicting phylogenetic signal between mtDNA and nuclear loci revealed in this study indicates that results obtained from mtDNA dataset alone need to be evaluated with caution. Taxonomic implications of our phylogenetic findings are discussed. These phylogenies also point out areas for future investigation regarding the rapid diversification, morphological evolution and environmental adaptation of various parrotbill species or species complexes.
长尾阔嘴鸟科（Paradoxornithidae，意为“矛盾的鸟类”，Aves）是一类旧大陆雀形目鸟类，由于在各个层次上存在显著的形态和生态变异，其分类历史令人费解。在这项研究中，基于两段线粒体序列和三段核编码区的序列，重建了长尾阔嘴鸟的系统发育关系。在 mtDNA 和核基因树中都发现了三个具有特征体型和羽毛颜色的主要分支。然而，mtDNA 系统发育表明长尾阔嘴鸟科是并系的，三个主要长尾阔嘴鸟分支之间的关系没有得到很好的解决。相反，通过联合核数据集揭示了三个主要长尾阔嘴鸟分支之间明显且支持良好的单系关系。由于在鸟类分类群中普遍存在基于 mtDNA 数据的并系现象，因此本研究中 mtDNA 和核基因座之间存在冲突的系统发育信号表明，仅从 mtDNA 数据集获得的结果需要谨慎评估。我们的系统发育发现的分类学意义进行了讨论。这些系统发育还指出了未来需要进一步研究的领域，包括各种长尾阔嘴鸟物种或物种复合体的快速多样化、形态进化和环境适应。
