Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy
From Freepedia
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a radical new bird taxonomy based on DNA studies and taking a cladistic approach, that is, trying to reconstruct an evolutionary family tree. It does so by using many intermediate levels of taxa: the "trunk" of the family tree is the class Aves, which branches into subclasses, which branch into infraclasses, and then parvclasses, superorders, orders, suborders, infraorders, parvorders, superfamilies, families, subfamilies, tribes, subtribes and finally genera and species.
The resulting arrangement differs greatly from the more traditional approach used in list of birds. The major changes at order level are as follows;
- Enlarged Struthioniformes replaces the ratite orders Rheiformes rheas, Casuariiformes cassowaries, and Apterygiformes kiwis and Struthioniformes ostriches
- Tinamiformes tinamous unchanged
- New greatly enlarged Ciconiiformes includes the previous Sphenisciformes penguins, Gaviiformes divers, Podicipediformes grebes, Procellariiformes tubenoses, Pelecaniformes pelicans and allies, Ciconiiformes storks and allies, Falconiformes birds of prey, Charadriiformes waders gulls terns and auks, and the family Pteroclidae sandgrouse.
- Anseriformes ducks and allies unchanged
- New Craciformes chachalacas etc. Previously Galliformes
- New Gruiformes Cranes
- New Turniciformes button-quails etc. Previously Gruiformes
- Columbiformes doves. Sandgrouse moved to Ciconiiformes.
- New Musophagiformes turacos. Previously Cuculiformes.
- New Cuculiformes rest of cuckoos
- New Apodiformes swifts
- New Trochiliformes hummingbirds. Previously Apodiformes.
- Coliiformes mousebirds unchanged
- Trogoniformes trogons unchanged
- New Coraciiformes rollers
- New Upupiformes Hoopoe, previously Coraciiformes
- New Bucerotiformes hornbills, previously Coraciiformes
- Piciformes woodpeckers
- Passeriformes perching birds unchanged.
Some of these changes are minor adjustments. For instance, instead of putting the swifts, treeswifts, and hummingbirds in the same order that includes nothing else, Sibley and Ahlquist put them in the same superorder that includes nothing else, consisting of one order for the hummingbirds and another for the swifts and treeswifts. In other words, they still regard the swifts as the hummingbirds' closest relatives.
Other changes are much more drastic. The penguins were traditionally regarded as distant from all other living birds. For instance, Wetmore put them in a superorder by themselves, with all other non-ratite birds in a different superorder. Sibley and Ahlquist, though, put penguins in the same superfamily as divers (loons), tubenoses, and frigatebirds; that is, penguins are closer to those birds than herons are to storks.
This revolutionary reordering has been widely accepted by North American ornithologists, and the American Ornithologists' Union has adopted some of its provisions, but in other parts of the world its adoption has been more deliberative: it has been a respected major influence on existing classification schemes.
A more recent paper by van Tuinen, Sibley, and Hedges looked in more detail at the early ancestry of bird groups. The traditional view of avian evolution places ratites and tinamous at the base of the tree of modern birds (Neornithes), followed by old marine groups such as the penguins, grebes and divers.
The new research suggested that the ducks and gallinaceous birds are each other's closest relatives and together form the basal lineage of neognathous (non-ratite) birds. The ratites and tinamous will now be followed by the ducks and their allies, and then the pheasants and their allies. Penguins, grebes and divers are placed with other groups that were traditionally considered more modern.
This latter research has been accepted by the British Ornithologists' Union, and the British list will now start with Anseriformes and Galliformes.
See also:
- Charles Sibley
- The Sibley-Monroe checklist, multiple parts:
- part 1 - Struthionidae to Odontophoridae
- part 2 - Anhimidae to Picidae
- part 3 - Megalaimidae to Todidae
- part 4 - Alcedinidae to Psittacidae
- part 5 - Apodidae to Musophagidae
- part 6 - Tytonidae to Columbidae
- part 7 - Eurypigidae to Jacanidae
- part 8 - Chionididae to Falconidae
- part 9 - Podicipedidae to Hydrobatidae
- part 10 - Acanthisittidae to Tyrannidae
- part 11 - Thamnophilidae to Rhinocryptidae
- part 12 - Climacteridae to Vireonidae
- part 13 - Corvidae
- part 14 - Callaeidae to Sturnidae
- part 15 - Sittidae to Cisticolidae
- part 16 - Zosteropidae
- part 17 - Alaudidae to Passeridae
- part 18 - Fringillidae
See also
References
- Sibley, C. G., and J. Ahlquist. 1990. Phylogeny and classification of birds. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
- On the Phylogeny and Classification of Living Birds, by Charles G. Sibley
- The Early History of Modern Birds Inferred from DNA Sequences of Nuclear and Mitochondrial Ribosomal Genes, by Marcel van Tuinen, Charles G. Sibley, and S. Blair Hedges
- Sibley's Classification of Birds, by Eric Salzman, Birding, December 1993. The Web version lacks the illustrations, which show parts of the family tree, and includes only a partial bibliography, but adds a sequence down to the tribe level with detail on intermediate taxa (especially for the passerines).
