I gleaned this from the OK list. Wow, this DNA stuff is gettin'
interesting. Note one author is at Truman State.
Edge Wade
Columbia, MO
[log in to unmask]
Subject: Galapagos finches linked to Caribbean
From: Doug <wildlifer AT IONET.NET>
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 01:43:16 -0500
Evolution: Vol. 56, No. 6, pp. 1240 1252.
PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AND MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY IN DARWIN'S
FINCHES AND THEIR RELATIVES
Kevin J. Burns
Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California
92182-4614 E-mail: kburns AT sunstroke.sdsu.edu
Shannon J. Hackett
Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake
Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496
Nedra K. Klein
Division of Science, Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri 63501
Abstract Despite the importance of Darwin's finches to the
development of evolutionary theory, the origin of the group has only
recently been examined using a rigorous, phylogenetic methodology
that includes many potential outgroups. Knowing the evolutionary
relationships of Darwin's finches to other birds is important for
understanding the context from which this adaptive radiation arose.
Here we show that analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data from
the cytochrome b gene confirm that Darwin's finches are
monophyletic. In addition, many taxa previously proposed as the
sister taxon to Darwin's finches can be excluded as their closest
living relative. Darwin's finches are part of a well-supported
monophyletic group of species, all of which build a domed nest. All
but two of the non-Darwin's finches included in this clade occur on
Caribbean islands and most are Caribbean endemics. These close
relatives of Darwin's finches show a diversity of bill types and
feeding behaviors similar to that observed among Darwin's finches
themselves. Recent studies have shown that adaptive evolution in
Darwin's finches occurred relatively quickly. Our data show that
among the relatives of Darwin's finches, the evolution of bill
diversity was also rapid and extensive.
... and propose a name, Thorospiza.
They say that the mainland birds once thought to to be sister taxa for
Darwin's Finches, Sporophila or Volatina are not the closest relatives.
And on the warbler finch:
Although the majority of taxonomists have regarded the warbler finch as
being derived from finch-like ancestors (3), since Darwin s time some
uncertainty has persisted about this issue (e.g., refs. 26 and 27).
Darwin himself included this species in the family Parulidae, the
American warblers (28). According to this view, Darwin s finches then
would have been founded by at least two different species the finch-like
and the warbler-like ancestors. Other taxonomists have argued, however,
that the warbler-like appearance of the species is the result of
morphological convergence (3), and this view now is upheld by the
molecular data: the warbler finch is part of the monophyletic Darwin s
finch group and Parulidae were clearly not among its ancestors.
--
Doug McGee
Cleveland OK
Two years rehab
All NATIVE species
BS Wildlife Ecology-Herpetology
"To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent
'ecological' tinkering" Aldo Leopold
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