Filogenia molecular de Chiroxiphia e Antilophia : aves : Pipridae

Abstract

The genus Chiroxiphia, small birds of Pipridae, currently comprises five species, including C. pareola, the species with wider geographic distribution, with four subspecies. Chiroxiphia boliviana was until recently considered a subspecies of C. pareola, but no detailed analysis has been published to justify such treatment, and in the absence of robust data, some authors question the validity of C. boliviana as a species. In this study, we used sequences of two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes to infer evolutionary relationships between Chiroxiphia species and all subspecies of the C. pareola as well as the relationships between Chiroxiphia and Antilophia. All phylogenies shown Chiroxiphia as paraphyletic as currently defined, since the two species of the Antilophia are included within Chiroxiphia as sister of C. boliviana. Chiroxiphia boliviana should be treated as full species, since it is not closely related to C. pareola and is clearly distinct from Antilophia. Within C. pareola four independent evolutionary lineages were identified, two of them corresponding to the subspecies C. p. regina and C. p. napensis, the other two are lineages separated by the lower Amazon River, with individuals from the north mixed with individuals of C. p. atlantica. The pattern observed for the complex C. pareola suggests that there is no deep genetic structure between the Amazonian centers of endemism, except for the separation between the northern and southern of the lower Amazon River. Therefore, the theory that large Amazonian rivers were important barriers to gene flow was not supported for the formation of the distinct evolutionary lineages within the C. pareola group. We recommend the synonymization of Antilophia with Chiroxiphia, which has priority, and the treatment as full species to C. regina and C. napensis.