Adapting generalized frequency coding to use colour spectra in the determination of phylogenetic relationships: an example with hummingbirds

Authors: Schmitz-Ornés, A.; Haase, M.¹

Source: Journal of Zoological Systematics & Evolutionary Research, Volume 47, Number 4, November 2009 , pp. 385-390(6)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

We introduce a methodology to perform phylogenetic analyses on bird taxa using parsimony based on plumage colour characters obtained as spectra. The generalized frequency coding method was adapted to transform continuous colour spectral data into discrete variables. As an example of the application of the methodology, we analysed two species of the hummingbird genus Campylopterus and all species of the genera Anthracothorax and Eulampis, which occur in South and Central America and the Caribbean islands. The genus Topaza was used as an outgroup because of its basal position within the hummingbirds. The results were mostly in accordance with both traditional morphological as well as molecular analyses indicating that there is phylogenetic information in plumage colours measured in an integral and objective way and that the new method is appropriate for phylogenetic analyses at this lower taxonomic level.

Keywords: GFC; spectrophotometry; phylogeny; Trochilidae

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0469.2009.00522.x

Affiliations: 1: Vogelwarte Hiddensee, Institut für Zoologie, Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

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