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Vol. 49 No. 5, 2010
Molecular Phylogeny of the Barwings (Aves: Timaliidae: Actinodura), a Paraphyletic Group, and Its Taxonomic Implications
Feng Dong1,2, Fei Wu1, Lu-Ming Liu1, and Xiao-Jun Yang1,*
1State
Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of
Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
2Graduate Univ. of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Feng Dong, Fei Wu, Lu-Ming Liu, and Xiao-Jun Yang (2010) The barwings (Aves: Timaliidae: genus Actinodura)
are a small group of poorly studied babblers that inhabit mountains
from the Himalayas to continental China and Taiwan. To infer the
phylogeny among members of the Actinodura, we examined variations of 3 mitochondrial fragments (the entire cytochrome b gene, and portions of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and cytochrome c
oxidase I genes, with 2,725 bp in total) in multiple samples
representing six of the 7 recognized barwing species. Results of
both the maximum-likelihood and Bayesian-based analyses indicated that Actinodura is composed of 2 major clades; however, there were 2 Minla
species nested within the clade that otherwise contained all barwing
species. Due to the nature of the paraphyly, we propose that the
2 clades of Actinodura be split into 2 genera, Actinodura and Ixops,
which can be diagnosed by the tail length, the presence/absence of a
striped breast, and other morphological traits. Our results also
revealed that Minla, an ally of Actinodura,
is also a paraphyletic group. Our analysis supported the recent
taxonomic recommendation to delimit traditional minlas into 3 monotypic
genera. We also present evidence suggesting that the speciation
of barwings might have partially been promoted by ecological niche
differentiation along with geographical isolation.
Key words: Paraphyly, Actinodura, Minla.
*Correspondence: Tel: 86-871-5192023. Fax: 86-871-5192023. E-mail:yangxj@mail.kiz.ac.cn
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