title: A comprehensive species-level molecular phylogeny of the New World blackbirds (Icteridae).
abstract: The New World blackbirds (Icteridae) are among the best known songbirds, serving as a model clade in comparative studies of morphological, ecological, and behavioral trait evolution. Despite wide interest in the group, as yet no analysis of blackbird relationships has achieved comprehensive species-level sampling or found robust support for most intergeneric relationships. Using mitochondrial gene sequences from all ∼108 currently recognized species and six additional distinct lineages, together with strategic sampling of four nuclear loci and whole mitochondrial genomes, we were able to resolve most relationships with high confidence. Our phylogeny is consistent with the strongly-supported results of past studies, but it also contains many novel inferences of relationship, including unexpected placement of some newly-sampled taxa, resolution of relationships among major clades within Icteridae, and resolution of genus-level relationships within the largest of those clades, the grackles and allies. We suggest taxonomic revisions based on our results, including restoration of Cacicus melanicterus to the monotypic Cassiculus, merging the monotypic Ocyalus and Clypicterus into Cacicus, restoration of Dives atroviolaceus to the monotypic Ptiloxena, and naming Curaeus forbesi to a new genus, Anumara. Our hypothesis of blackbird phylogeny provides a foundation for ongoing and future evolutionary analyses of the group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. Electronic address: alveypowell@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Alexis F L A
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: F Keith
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology Building, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Scott M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lanyon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Barrick Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klicka
authors.affiliation: Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14950, USA.
authors.forename: Irby J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Lovette
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D020308:Songbirds / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Blackbird; Classification; Icteridae; Phylogeny; Systematics; Taxonomy