Evolution: Bird evolutionary tree fits the
bill (N&V)
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NATURE
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Evolution
Embargo
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London: Wednesday 07 October 2015 18:00 (BST)
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New York: Wednesday 07 October 2015 13:00 (EDT)
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Tokyo: Thursday 08 October 2015 02:00 (JST)
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Sydney: Thursday 08 October 2015 04:00 (AEDT)
Analysis of the genome sequences of 198 living bird species provides a comprehensive view of
the evolutionary relationships of modern birds, reports a paper published in Nature this week.
Despite significant advances in bird phylogenetic analysis in the last decade, the evolutionary
history of Neoaves — a group encompassing nearly all living bird species — remains an
unresolved challenge in dinosaur systematics.
Richard Prum, Jacob Berv and colleagues analyse more than 390,000 bases of genomic
sequence data from each of 198 living bird species, representing all major bird lineages, and two
crocodilian subgroups. Their phylogeny, which encompasses new groups as well as previously
established ones, supports the presence of five major bird groups: a group uniting nightjars (and
some of their relatives), swifts and hummingbirds; a group uniting cuckoos and bustards with
pigeons and sandgrouse; a group including cranes and their relatives; a waterbird and shorebird
group; and a landbird group. The analysis does not support two recently proposed Neoavian
groups — Columbea and Passerea — as natural groups.
These findings are consistent with the fossil record in supporting a major radiation of birds
following the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction, which took place roughly 65 million years
ago. The authors propose that this new phylogeny, as well as supporting several hypotheses
about bird evolution, will provide a robust backbone for future comprehensive avian evolutionary
analyses.
Article and author details
1. A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted nextgeneration DNA sequencing
Corresponding Authors
Jacob S. Berv, Ithaca
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
Email: jsb439@cornell.edu
Richard Prum
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Email: richard.prum@yale.edu, Tel: +1 203 432 9423
N&V author
Gavin Thomas (University of Sheffield, UK)
E-mail: gavin.thomas@sheffield.ac.uk; Tel: +44 114 222 0136
DOI
10.1038/nature15697
Online paper*
http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature15697
* Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).
Geographical listings of authors
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United States