Phylogenetic, Taxonomic and Biogeographical Implications of Genetic, Morphological, and Behavioral Variation in Francolins (Phasianidae: Francolinus)

Abstract

ASSTRACT.-We studied restriction-fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in mitochondria! DNA for 13 species of African franco!ins (Francolinus spp.) and the Japanese Quail (Coturnix c. japonica). Phylogenetic analyses of RFLPs for these 14 species and of morphological and behavioral characters for the 41 francolin species and other perdicine taxa do not confirm the monophyly of Francolinus as currently recognized. Analyses of morpho-behaviora! characters suggest that Francolinus consists of at least four major assemblages: the five Asiatic species; two groups of African quail-like species; and the African partridge-like species. Within these assemblages, analyses of RFLPs and/or morpho-behaviora! characters support the monophy!y of six of eight species groups attributed to Francolinus. Assuming the monophy!y of currently recognized supraspecific groups of ga!!iform birds, morphometric analyses of gal-!iform skeletons correctly classified 90-99% of specimens to family, subfami!y and tribe, as well as 95% of the francolin specimens to genus. Genetic distances derived from RFLP data imply that African francolins diverged from their sister taxa at or before the mid-late Miocene, and that a!! species studied diverged from their sister-species during the Pliocene or early Pleistocene.

Molecular evolution of the Asian francolins (Francolinus, Galliformes): A modern reappraisal of a classic study in speciation

“…Although only the inclusion of African francolins will provide a definitive proof, the alleged monophyly of the group showed in this work was in agreement with the results of Crowe et al (1992), which were based on the analysis of morpho-behavioural characters, and with the IOC taxonomy that has recently assigned the African species to four new genera (Gill and Donsker, 2012). We herein suggest a biogeographic model supporting the monophyly for Asian Francolinus birds (see below).…”

“…Recent studies mostly based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) rejected monophyly of the genus Francolinus, while confirmed that of the spotted francolins (Crowe and Crowe, 1985;Milstein et al, 1987;Crowe et al, 1992Crowe et al, , 2006Bloomer and Crowe, 1998). According to this, in the latest taxonomy provided by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), only the Asian species were included in the genus Francolinus while those inhabiting the African continent were assigned to the genera Dendroperdix, Peliperdix, Pternistis and Scleroptila (Gill and Donsker, 2012).…”

Polymorphism in some birds of Galliformes

“…The classification of Phasianinae and Perdicinae based solely on tail and wing morphology is insufficient. Furthermore, an inconsistency lies in the current classification of Francolinus as a monophyletic group in that the genetic, morphological, and behavioral characteristics of francolins and other Perdicinae taxa do no conform to the monophyly of Francolinus [36]. Sexual monomorphism in the colorful feathers is a key characteristic used to distinguish Perdicinae from pheasants [12][13][14][15].…”

The phylogeny of francolins (Francolinus, Dendroperdix, Peliperdix and Scleroptila) and spurfowls (Pternistis) based on chick plumage (Galliformes: Phasianidae)

“…Francolins and spurfowls are not monophyletic Crowe et al (1992Crowe et al ( , 2006 reviewed the monophyletic genus "Francolinus" proposed by Hall and found that it represents two distant clades split among five genera: spurfowls (Pternistis) and francolins (Francolinus, Scleroptila, Peliperdix and Dendroperdix). In other words, based on DNA and morpho-behavioural studies, francolins and spurfowls do not share a common evolutionary path (Milstein and Wolff 1987;Crowe and Little 2004;Crowe et al 2006).…”