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Robins are flycatchers? (2 Viewers)

The Rhino person Kees Rookmaaker says in 2017 that the use of Bessonornis (both humeralis and pectoralis) as used in the catalogue 1837 is nomina nuda but that Smith’s use in 1840 in the Illustrations “described later more fully, providing new authorship and date.” Bessonornis 1840.

Page 45 of Zoological Contributions. On researchgate also on Rhino site. Rookmaaker says about the Egyptian Hall show: “The animals were not described in the text, making the names nomina nuda. We must remember, however, that the specimens could be viewed together with the catalogue, which made it a special experience for the user. “

Zoological Contributions mentions a sales catalogue dated 1838 which lists Bessonornis but it is also NN. Page 25.

I am chasing down whether there was an ancestor of Luc Besson living in Cape Town who was a colleague of Smith’s. Joking but on Smith’s expedition he visited two French (Protestant) Missionary Stations Verhuil and Mariah.

Gray in 1855 chooses Bessonornis mentioning both names but does not give a reason.

He picks Bessonornis Smith 184?.

Catalogue of the genera and subgenera of birds contained in the British Museum - Biodiversity Heritage Library .

No. 714 with an asterisk meaning a true genus not subgenus?

The genus name on plate 48 is Cossypha but Smith uses Cossipha in the text. He cites the first description of the bird from a Report of the Expedition Appendix page 46 and he cites it to Bessonornis June 1836. The Report uses Dessonornis as shown by Laurent. These Smith names are from June 2, 1834 but were not published until 1836. Rookmaaker states in 2017 of the report: “The title page states that the pamphlet was issued for subscribers only, and may not have been for sale. The subscribers were the people who bought shares to finance the expedition,” Suggesting that Dessonornis was not “published” under the Code.
 
Min Zhao, J. Gordon Burleigh, Urban Olsson, Per Alström, Rebecca T. Kimball,
A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae),
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution,
Volume 178,
2023,
107646,
ISSN 1055-7903,
(A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae))
Abstract: The Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae) are a diverse songbird family with over three hundred species. Despite continuous efforts over the past two decades, there is still no comprehensive and well-resolved species-level phylogeny for Muscicapidae. Here we present a supermatrix phylogeny that includes all 50 currently recognized genera and ca. 92% of all the species, built using data from up to 15 mitochondrial and 13 nuclear loci. In addition to assembling nucleotide sequences available in public databases, we also extracted sequences from the genome assemblies and raw sequencing reads from GenBank and included a few unpublished sequences. Our analyses resolved the phylogenetic position for several previously unsampled taxa, for example, the Grand Comoro Flycatcher Humblotia flavirostris, the Collared Palm Thrush Cichladusa arquata, and the Taiwan Whistling-Thrush Myophonus insularis, etc. We also provide taxonomic recommendations for genera that exhibit paraphyly or polyphyly. Our results suggest that Muscicapidae diverged from Turdidae (thrushes and allies) in the early Miocene, and the most recent common ancestors for the four subfamilies (Muscicapinae, Niltavinae, Cossyphinae and Saxicolinae) all arose around the middle Miocene.
 
Acanthis said:
Min Zhao, J. Gordon Burleigh, Urban Olsson, Per Alström, Rebecca T. Kimball,
A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae),
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution,
Volume 178,
2023,
107646,
ISSN 1055-7903,
(A near-complete and time-calibrated phylogeny of the Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae))
Abstract: The Old World flycatchers, robins and chats (Aves, Muscicapidae) are a diverse songbird family with over three hundred species. Despite continuous efforts over the past two decades, there is still no comprehensive and well-resolved species-level phylogeny for Muscicapidae. Here we present a supermatrix phylogeny that includes all 50 currently recognized genera and ca. 92% of all the species, built using data from up to 15 mitochondrial and 13 nuclear loci. In addition to assembling nucleotide sequences available in public databases, we also extracted sequences from the genome assemblies and raw sequencing reads from GenBank and included a few unpublished sequences. Our analyses resolved the phylogenetic position for several previously unsampled taxa, for example, the Grand Comoro Flycatcher Humblotia flavirostris, the Collared Palm Thrush Cichladusa arquata, and the Taiwan Whistling-Thrush Myophonus insularis, etc. We also provide taxonomic recommendations for genera that exhibit paraphyly or polyphyly. Our results suggest that Muscicapidae diverged from Turdidae (thrushes and allies) in the early Miocene, and the most recent common ancestors for the four subfamilies (Muscicapinae, Niltavinae, Cossyphinae and Saxicolinae) all arose around the middle Miocene.
Click to expand...
A new genus is warranted for "Vauriella" goodfellowi, which is sister to all Muscicapini.

And the remaining Vauriella is placed in synonymy of Leonardina
 
Jim LeNomenclatoriste said:
A new genus is warranted for "Vauriella" goodfellowi, which is sister to all Muscicapini.

And the remaining Vauriella is placed in synonymy of Leonardina
Click to expand...
It is no surprise for anyone involved with Philippine birds that goodfellowi is not closely related to its 'conspecifics' (Delacour and Mayr). It is overly surprising, though, that Heinrichia and Leonardina should be in the same genus as Vauriella, though I wouldn't argue with them being their closest relatives. I suggest that the results of this study might have underestimated the divergence times, possibly owing to some unaccounted sources of error. It would create a unique geographical range.
As for albigularis, I think there is little reason except for convention to keep it in Vauriella. It sounds and behaves like a Cyornis, or close to that genus, with the closest relatives likely being C. ruficauda and R. ocularis.
 
Nicolas Martinez and Vincent van der Spek (2022) Geographical variation in Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros (S. G. Gmelin, 1774) calls. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 142:466-477. published online 7 December 2022.
https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i4.2022.a5

Abstract
Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros occurs over a broad range from Western Europe and north-west Africa to Central Asia. Seven subspecies are usually recognised, which can be divided morphologically into a grey-and-white-bellied western group (‘Western Black Redstart’; two subspecies) and an orange-bellied eastern group (‘Eastern Black Redstart’; five subspecies). Because vocalisations might help to understand relationships between these taxa, we analysed the calls of six of the seven subspecies. We demonstrate that calls can be grouped into one of three geographical variants. One is formed by the western subspecies breeding in Europe, the morphologically intermediate subspecies ochruros and Eastern Black Redstarts from the Altai and Mongolia. Further south-east, birds call at lower frequencies on average and within a smaller frequency range (group 2). The third group is formed by the eastern subspecies rufiventris which differs from all other taxa, with a descending instead of a rising call, given at much lower frequencies.
 
dnsallen said:
As for albigularis, I think there is little reason except for convention to keep it in Vauriella. It sounds and behaves like a Cyornis, or close to that genus, with the closest relatives likely being C. ruficauda and R. ocularis.
Click to expand...
I might be tempted to place it in the genus Cyornis, when the new genus for V. goodfellowi is published
 
Paraphyly of O. lugens with respect to the split of warriae (Basalt Wheatear) suggests that either a split is on the cards or a relumping of Basalt. Clearly it's a bit messy with regards to multiple incidents of introgression within the lugens group and from further out in Oenanthe. I would also suggest that these results strongly suggest albonigra needs to lumped with picata.

Another thing that is not addressed in the paper is that a split might be on the cards in O. albifrons. Wider sampling will be needed here to see where each subspecies falls.
 
Jacana said:
Paraphyly of O. lugens with respect to the split of warriae (Basalt Wheatear) suggests that either a split is on the cards or a relumping of Basalt. Clearly it's a bit messy with regards to multiple incidents of introgression within the lugens group and from further out in Oenanthe. I would also suggest that these results strongly suggest albonigra needs to lumped with picata.

Another thing that is not addressed in the paper is that a split might be on the cards in O. albifrons. Wider sampling will be needed here to see where each subspecies falls.
Click to expand...
This is what I had concluded on my Facebook group
 
Jacana said:
Paraphyly of O. lugens with respect to the split of warriae (Basalt Wheatear) suggests that either a split is on the cards or a relumping of Basalt. Clearly it's a bit messy with regards to multiple incidents of introgression within the lugens group and from further out in Oenanthe. I would also suggest that these results strongly suggest albonigra needs to lumped with picata.

Another thing that is not addressed in the paper is that a split might be on the cards in O. albifrons. Wider sampling will be needed here to see where each subspecies falls.
Click to expand...
Would depend on the species concept being applied, right? Monophyly is only an absolute requirement if using PSC. You can still have paraphyletic species if one of the daughter populations has evidence of reproductive isolation from other populations.
 
Mysticete said:
Would depend on the species concept being applied, right? Monophyly is only an absolute requirement if using PSC. You can still have paraphyletic species if one of the daughter populations has evidence of reproductive isolation from other populations.
Click to expand...
Certainly true, although those short branch lengths don't help for keeping the split. Plus the signals of introgression with warriae are another red flag.
 
Sottas, C., Reif, J., Piálek, L., Poignet, M., Kverek, P., Dolata, P.T. and Reifová, R., 2022. Patterns of hybridization in a secondary contact zone between two passerine species, the common nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos and the thrush nightingale Luscinia luscinia. Journal of Avian Biology, p.e03061. https://doi.org/10.1111/jav.03061

Understanding how reproductive isolation arises and accumulates between incipient species is an important goal of evolutionary biology. Patterns of interspecific hybridization in naturally occurring hybrid zones can provide an important insight into this process since they reflect the strength, symmetry and nature of reproductive barriers separating the species. Here we studied patterns of hybridization in two closely related passerine species, the common nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos and the thrush nightingale L. luscinia, that diverged ~1.8 Mya and co-occur in a secondary contact zone spanning across Europe. Genome-wide genotyping of more than three hundred individuals from the sympatric population and adjacent allopatric populations revealed that the vast majority of sympatric individuals were pure parental species. Only 6.5% of sympatric individuals were hybrids, from which 3.4% were F1 hybrids and 3.1% backcross hybrids from the first to the fifth backcross generation. Most F1 hybrids arose from the cross of a thrush nightingale female and a common nightingale male. F1 hybrids showed intermediate morphology and could be distinguished with high confidence from the parental species based on several diagnostic traits. However, backcrosses were morphologically difficult to distinguish from the parental species from which they inherited most of the genome. Our results suggest strong, yet incomplete, reproductive isolation between the two nightingale species both at a prezygotic and postzygotic level. Nightingales thus represent a useful model system for exploring the late stages of speciation with ongoing gene flow after secondary contact.
 
Jim LeNomenclatoriste said:
www.biorxiv.org

A Phylogenomic Assessment of Processes Underpinning Convergent Evolution in Open-Habitat Chats

Insights into the processes underpinning convergent evolution advance our understanding of the contributions of ancestral, introgressed, and novel genetic variation to phenotypic evolution. Phylogenomic analyses characterizing genome-wide gene tree heterogeneity can provide first clues about the...
www.biorxiv.org www.biorxiv.org


I guess a lot of taxonomic changes
Click to expand...

Kakhki, N.A., M. Schweizer, D. Lutgen, R.C.K. Bowie, H. Shirihai, A. Suh, H. Schielzeth, and R. Burri (2022)
A phylogenomic assessment of processes underpinning convergent evolution in open-habitat chats
Molecular Biology and Evolution (advance online publication)
doi: 10.1093/molbev/msac278

Insights into the processes underpinning convergent evolution advance our understanding of the contributions of ancestral, introgressed, and novel genetic variation to phenotypic evolution. Phylogenomic analyses characterizing genome-wide gene tree heterogeneity can provide first clues about the extent of ILS and of introgression and thereby into the potential of these processes or (in their absence) the need to invoke novel mutations to underpin convergent evolution. Here, we were interested in understanding the processes involved in convergent evolution in open-habitat chats (wheatears of the genus Oenanthe and their relatives). To this end, based on whole-genome resequencing data from 50 taxa of 44 species, we established the species tree, characterized gene tree heterogeneity, and investigated the footprints of ILS and introgression within the latter. The species tree corroborates the pattern of abundant convergent evolution, especially in wheatears. The high levels of gene tree heterogeneity in wheatears are explained by ILS alone only for 30% of internal branches. For multiple branches with high gene tree heterogeneity, D-statistics and phylogenetic networks identified footprints of introgression. Finally, long branches without extensive ILS between clades sporting similar phenotypes provide suggestive evidence for a role of novel mutations in the evolution of these phenotypes. Together, our results suggest that convergent evolution in open-habitat chats involved diverse processes and highlight that phenotypic diversification is often complex and best depicted as a network of interacting lineages.
 

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