Ultraconserved elements resolve genus-level relationships in a major Australasian bird radiation (Aves: Meliphagidae)

Ultraconserved elements put the final nail in the coffin of traditional use of the genus Meliphaga (Aves: Meliphagidae)

“…First, we support earlier recommendations that Meliphaga Lewin, 1808 (type‐species Ptilotis lewinii ) as traditionally construed should be restricted to Clade 1, the aruensis‐lewinii‐notata group (Andersen et al, ; Joseph et al, ; Marki et al, ; Norman et al, ). Some taxonomic authorities (del Hoyo & Collar, ) have adopted the recommended recognition of Microptilotis Mathews, 1912 (type‐species Ptilotis gracilis ) for most of the remaining species in Clade 2.…”

“…We acknowledge that maintenance of the traditionally broad application of Meliphaga for the whole group including Oreornis is taxonomically valid and expedient. However, because our findings here and earlier work using different molecular methods (Andersen et al, 2019;Joseph et al, 2014;Marki et al, 2017;Norman et al, 2007) have now consistently revealed robust and temporally deep phylogenetic structure within this entire group, as well as more phenotypic diversity than previously appreciated, we argue that retention of a broad Meliphaga is unhelpful and unreflective of the structure known to exist in the group. Therefore, dismantling of a broad Meliphaga must, as earlier argued, be seriously considered.…”

“…Both suggested that the Microptilotis group is paraphyletic with respect to Oreornis. However, the exact relationships between Oreornis and all of the species under discussion here were unclear due to either limited taxon sampling (Andersen et al, 2019) or low topological support and sparse sequence data for Oreornis (Marki et al, 2017). Andersen et al, 2019, using UCEs, sampled Oreornis and one species from each of the established clades of Meliphaga sensu lato and found strong support for Oreornis as sister to one species in the Microptilotis group, M. montana.…”

“…However, the exact relationships between Oreornis and all of the species under discussion here were unclear due to either limited taxon sampling (Andersen et al, ) or low topological support and sparse sequence data for Oreornis (Marki et al, ). Andersen et al, , using UCEs, sampled Oreornis and one species from each of the established clades of Meliphaga sensu lato and found strong support for Oreornis as sister to one species in the Microptilotis group, M. montana . This genus‐level taxon sampling strategy, which only used single species to represent currently accepted genera, could not determine whether Oreornis is sister to the Microptilotis group or embedded within it.…”

“…Recent phylogenetic analyses of Meliphagidae have either focused on multilocus species-level analyses derived from Sanger sequencing (Driskell & Christidis, 2004;Joseph et al, 2014;Marki et al, 2017;Norman, Rheindt, Rowe, & Christidis, 2007) or genus-level sampling and target capture of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) (Andersen et al, 2019). All of these studies found that Meliphaga sensu lato fell into two well-supported clades: (a) aruensis-lewinii-notata sister to (b) remaining species (Driskell & Christidis, 2004;Joseph et al, 2014;Norman et al, 2007).…”