Phylogenomic analyses reveal non-monophyly of the antbird generaHerpsilochmusandSakesphorus(Thamnophilidae), with description of a new genus forHerpsilochmus sellowi

Abstract

The family Thamnophilidae is a species-rich Neotropical radiation of passerine birds. Current classification of its 235 species is mostly based on morphological similarities, but recent studies integrating comprehensive phenotypic and phylogenetic data have redefined taxonomic limits of several taxa. Here, we assess generic relationships of Herpsilochmus, Sakesphorus, Thamnophilus, Biatas, and Dysithamnus using DNA sequences from the mitochondrion, nuclear exons, and ultraconserved elements, with further attention to interspecific relationships within Herpsilochmus. We show that Herpsilochmus and Sakesphorus are not monophyletic. We resolve Herpsilochmus sellowi as a deep-branch sister to the monotypic genus Biatas and Sakesphorus cristatus as sister to a clade comprising Herpsilochmus sensu stricto and Dysithamnus. These results are consistent across loci, obtained via concatenation and coalescent-based analyses, and supported by likelihood-ratio tests of the distribution of our sampled coalescent histories. The phenotypic distinctiveness of both H. sellowi and Biatas argues against merging them into a single genus. Because no generic name is available for H. sellowi, we describe a monotypic genus. The polyphyly of Sakesphorus warrants recognition of the available generic name Sakesphoroides for the distinctive and monotypic S. cristatus. Furthermore, we recover 6 well-supported species groups within Herpsilochmus sensu stricto. Within the context of the family as a whole, the ubiquity of long terminal branches representing monotypic genera points to extinction events among ancestors of these lineages. We suggest that retention of ancestral characters or random genetic drift coupled with extensive extinction could explain the high degree of morphological and ecological similarity across these taxa, but we highlight the potential role of the environment in driving adaptive phenotypic convergence. Finally, our results send a cautionary message against the blind use of phylogenies containing imputed data based on taxonomy due to the increasingly frequent mismatches between traditional taxonomic classification and molecular phylogenies.

The evolution of sex similarities in social signals: Climatic seasonality is associated with lower sexual dimorphism and greater elaboration of female and male signals in antbirds (Thamnophilidae)

“…In males, we observed that narrower banded songs (but not faster paced nor with grater performance) are associated with larger bills, but we did not detect an association between song frequency bandwidth and climate. Detection of a probable effect of climate on songs mediated by body size, but not by bills, may occur because antbirds show low variation in relative bill sizes, whereas body sizes are more variable (Gómez et al 2010;Bravo et al 2012Bravo et al , 2014Bravo et al , 2021. Our results suggest that climatic conditions may act as an integrative factor linking direct (e.g., habitat type) and indirect (e.g., morphology) sources of selection affecting acoustic signals.…”

“…2010; Bravo et al. 2012, 2014, 2021). We estimated bill surface area according to the formula: bill length × π × ((bill depth + bill width)/4) (Luther and Danner 2016).…”

“…We obtained bill depth, width, and length and, as a proxy of body size, wing length (all morphological traits expressed in millime-ters; Gosler et al 1998;Podos 2001). The same person took morphological measurements in museum specimens (Gómez et al 2010;Bravo et al 2012Bravo et al , 2014Bravo et al , 2021. We estimated bill surface area according to the formula: bill length × π × ((bill depth + bill width)/4) (Luther and Danner 2016).…”

“…Thus, we averaged measurements taken in females and males in each species. Considering species present in the phylogeny, morphological traits were available for an average of 4.7 individuals per species (Gómez et al 2010;Bravo et al 2012Bravo et al , 2014Bravo et al , 2021.…”

The Effect of Forest Management on the Avifauna of a Brazilian Dry Forest

“…We also classified species by endemism, conservation and migratory status. Species classification and nomenclature follow the Brazilian Committee of Ornithological Records (de Piacentini et al, 2015), and recent taxonomic and nomenclature changes (Bravo et al, 2021).…”