Plectropterus (1 Viewer)

[gusasp]

Hi there! Trying to figure out the phylogenetic position of the Spur-winged Goose, but can't seem to find any molecular studies.

On morphological grounds, Del Hoyo et. al. 1992 has it in Cairini in Anatinae, Livezey 1997 in a tribe with Sarkidiornis in Tadorninae (but in Livezey 1987 in its own subfamily) and in Anserini (inkluded in Anatinae) in Sibley & Ahlquist 1990.

John Boyd puts it on a very basal branch, in a polytomy with Stictonetta, Anserinae and Anatinae (leaving only Dendrocygna+Thalassornis outside), but I can't find the source.

Surely it must have been sampled? What have I missed?

 

[l_raty]

The only sequence for this species in GenBank is of hemoglobin alpha A subunit, and is part of the data set of McCracken et al 2009 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26812372 . Thus it is presumably one of the unlabelled branches in the left tree in Fig. 2 of this paper...

When I analysed it separately in the past, this gene placed Plectropterus in Anatinae (sensu H&M4), sister to Pteronetta with reasonable support, but with the position of this pair within Anatinae being extremely poorly resolved.

 

[l_raty]

What's next?

I also don't really see the need to split Turdus...having seen local species in the US, Europe, South Africa, and Japan...Turdus thrushes mostly all look alike to me in structure and build.

www.birdforum.net

 

[gusasp]

Thank you Laurent! Forgot that you already had answered on the issue, in a thread started by – me!