Análise filogenética de Rhinocryptidae revisitada: testando o monofiletismo dos gêneros Pteroptochos e Scelorchilus

Abstract

Rhinocryptidae is a family of birds composed of small to medium-sized individuals, divided into 12 genera and approximately 60 species restricted to the Neotropical region. They are usually shy animals, with terrestrial habits and an omnivorous diet,living in forest or open forest areas. They are recognized as a monophyletic group by several phylogenetic studies. The aim of this work was to present a phylogenetic hypothesis for Rhinocryptidae, focusing on the genera Pteroptochos and Scelorchilus based on morphological characters. Skeletons and syringes of the 12 genera that are included in the family were analyzed, treated as an internal group in the study. For the outgroup, 16 species representing the other families that makeup the Infraorder Furnariides were included, namely: Conopophagidae, Dendrocolaptidae, Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Grallariidae, Melanopareiidae, Scleruridae and Thamnophilidae, in addition to a representative of the infraorder Tyranni for rooting the phylogeny. From this morphological examination, a matrix with 43 species and 91 characters was generated, which was submitted to different analyzes based on the principle of parsimony. Eight different approaches were used, taking advantage of the search capabilities provided by the “new technologies” contained in the TNT Software. In all results, Rhinocryptidae monophyly was recovered, with Goodman-Bremer index ranging from 3 to 8 and Bootstrap above 90%, supporting phylogenies already published. Liosceles position on the basis of phylogeny was again affirmed, a condition that led some authors to suggest that the genus be classified in one subfamily (Lioscelinae) and the other representatives of Rhinocryptidae in another (Rhinocryptinae). The proximity of the genera Eleoscytalopus + Merulaxis, Teledromas + Rhinocrypta and Eugralla + Myornis + Scytalopus obtained high support, as well as Pteroptochos + Scelorchilus. The two species of Scelorchilus were recovered as sister species in all topologies found, but the same did not happen with Pteroptochos, which demonstrated three possible arrangements for the clade. Despite the incongruences presented internally, the five species proved to be consistent as a monophyletic cluster. The results found strongly suggest that the approach of partitioning the matrix and the ordering or not of multistate characters influence the final topology of the phylogenies, as well as their number of steps.