Acta Zoologica Sinica, Vol. 52 (supplement) pp. 362-365

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Using molecular phylogenetics to interpret evolutionary changes in morphology and behavior in the Phasianidae.

Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA (R.T.K., E.L.B.); Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA (J.D.L.); Istituto Nazionale per la Fauna Selvatica (INFS), via Ca' Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano dell’Emilia (BO), Italy (E.R., V.L.)

We used molecular phylogenies derived from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data to interpret changes in morphological and behavioral characters among several genera of phasianids. This approach has been difficult to develop because relationships among the Phasianidae are poorly resolved. Bayesian analyses of cytochrome b with more complex, codon-based models improved resolution relative to previous maximum parsimony analyses. We mapped several characters presence of fleshy traits, ability to rapidly enlarge fleshy traits, and frontal displays) on to our molecular phylogeny to explore trait evolution. We also reconstructed traits incorporating uncertainty (unresolved nodes) in the phylogeny by reconstructing gains and losses of traits using a set of trees obtained through Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. Assuming equal weights for gains and losses, we conclude that fleshy traits have been gained and lost multiple times in the course of trait evolution, with wide 95% confidence intervals. In contrast, the ability to rapidly enlarge those fleshy traits is restricted to a single, well-supported clade in which it appears to have been gained only once. Like the presence of fleshy traits, the presence of a frontally-oriented display appears to have evolved many times, perhaps in correlation with the evolution of specific ornamental traits.