Molecular Phylogeny of the Barwings (Aves: Timaliidae: Actinodura), a Paraphyletic Group, and Its Taxonomic Implications
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.
Keywords
Paraphyly, Actinodura, Minla.
