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The Relationships of the Vireos (Vireoninae) as Indicated by DNA-DNA Hybridization

1982; Wilson Ornithological Society; Volume: 94; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

1938-5447

Charles G. Sibley, Jon E. Ahlquist,

Identification and Quantification in Food

The New World passerine subfamily Vireoninae contains 43 species in four genera. Vireo, the largest genus, is primarily North American but several of its 25 species occur on Caribbean islands, one species has a subspecies in Bermuda, and two species occur as far south as Argentina. The 13 species of Neotropical greenlets (Hylophilus) are primarily South American; three occur in Central America of which one reaches southern Mexico. Vireo and Hylophilus are the vireos, being relatively small passerines with green, yellow and gray plumage colors. The other two genera, Vireolanius and Cyclarhis, are larger, brighter in color, and with heavy, shrike-like bills. The three species of shrike-vireos (Vireolanius) occur from southern Mexico to Bolivia, and the two species of peppershrikes (Cyclarhis) range from southern Mexico to Uruguay (Thomson 1964, Blake 1968). Opinions about the relationships of the vireos to other oscine passerines (Passeres) have focused primarily upon two groups, namely: the shrikes (Laniidae), and the New World nine-primaried oscines, particularly the wood warblers (Parulini of Sibley 1970; Sibley and Ahlquist 1982b). The vireos have been thought to be related to the shrikes because they have a shrike-like bill with a hooked tip and a subterminal notch in the maxillary tomium (e.g., Coues 1892). The principal basis for placing the vireos near the nine-primaried oscines has been the size and coloration of the typical vireos and their tendency toward the reduction of the outer (10th) primary (e.g., Mayr and Amadon 1951:27). In this paper, we present data from quantitative comparisons of the single-copy DNA sequences showing that the vireos, greenlets, peppershrikes and shrike-vireos are closely related to one another, and that they are not closely related to the New World nine-primaried oscines, but are members of a large corvine assemblage that includes the corvids (Corvidae), shrikes (Laniidae), drongos (Dicrurus), monarchs (Monarcha), cuckoo-shrikes (Campephagidae) and several other groups. The following review of the taxonomic history of the vireos demonstrates the difficulties and controversies involved in the discovery and interpretation of the traditional characters that have been used as the basis for opinions about the relationships among birds in general, and the vireos in particular.