Phylogenetic relationships of the hoatzin, an enigmatic South American bird
| Autor: | M. D. Simmons, G.-J. Caspers, M. A. Van Dijk, W. W. De Jong, C. G. Sibley, S B Hedges |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Evolutionary and Population Biology (IBED, FNWI) |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 1995 |
| Předmět: |
Molecular Sequence Data
Zoology Guira guira Hoatzin Birds RNA Ribosomal 16S Animals Cuckoo Phylogeny Multidisciplinary Phylogenetic tree biology Base Sequence Ecology Cracidae South America biology.organism_classification Crystallins Mitochondria Plumage RNA Ribosomal Chachalaca Feather visual_art visual_art.visual_art_medium Research Article |
| Zdroj: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 92, 11662-11665. National Academy of Sciences |
| ISSN: | 0027-8424 |
| Popis: | The hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) lives in the humid lowlands of northern and central South America, often in riparian habitats. It is a slender bird approximately 65 cm in length, brownish with lighter streaks and buffy tips to the long tail feathers. The small head has a ragged, bristly crest of reddish-brown feathers, and the bare skin of the face is bright blue. It resembles a chachalaca (Ortalis, Cracidae) in size and shape, but its plumage and markings are similar to those of the smaller guira cuckoo (Guira guira). The hoatzin (pronounced Watson) has been a taxonomic puzzle since it was described in 1776. It usually has been viewed as related to the gallinaceous birds, but alliances to other groups have been suggested, including the cuckoos. We present DNA sequence evidence from the 12S and 16S rRNA mitochondrial genes, and from the nuclear gene that codes for the eye lens protein, alpha A-crystallin. The results indicate that the hoatzin is most closely related to the typical cuckoos and that the divergence occurred at or near the base of the cuculiform phylogenetic tree. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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