| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1996 |
| Authors: | LIVEZEY, BRADLEYC |
| Journal: | The Auk |
| Volume: | 113 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Date Published: | 1996 |
| ISBN Number: | 00048038 |
| Keywords: | Anatidae, Aythya, Aythya americana, Aythya ferina, Aythya marila, Aythya nyroca, Aythya valisineria, Fuligula, Marmaronetta, Netta, Netta caryophyllacea, Netta rufina, Nyroca, Rhodonessa, Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, Rhodonessa rufina, Zosteropidae, Zosterops, Zosterops palpebrosus |
| Abstract: | A phylogenetic analysis of modern pochards (Aythyini) was performed using 99 characters of the skeleton, trachea, natal plumage, and definitive integument. Three shortest trees were found (length = 148; consistency index for informative characters = 0.68) which: (1) placed Marmaronetta as the sister group to other members; (2) defined a basal clade comprising as sister groups Rhodonessa caryophyllacea + Netta rufina and N. peposaca + N. erythrophthalma; and (3) defined as the sister group to the preceding clade all other pochards, in which the three redheads (Aythya valisineria, and the sister species A. ferina and A. americana) are the sister group to the mutually monophyletic white-eyes (A. australis, A. innotata, and the sister species A. nyroca and A. baeri) and scaup (in order of increasingly close relationship, A. novaeseelandiae, A. collaris, A. fuligula, A. marila, and A. affinis). The three shortest trees differed only in the topology among the white-eyes. These nodes, and that supporting the sister relationship between N. peposaca and N. erythrophthalma, were the only nodes not conserved in a majority of bootstrapped replicates; Bremer (decay) indices provided similar assessments of empirical support. Evolutionary trends in body mass, clutch size, preferred nest site, diel activity pattern, and biogeographic patterns are evaluated in the context of this phylogenetic hypothesis. Quantitative comparisons with previously proposed phylogenetic hypotheses, particularly that of Johnsgard, are made using constrained searches based on these data, and a revised classification of the Aythyini is proposed. |
| URL: | http://www.jstor.org/stable/4088937 |
| Short Title: | The Auk |
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