Proposal
(319) to South American
Classification Committee
Transfer Granatellus
to Cardinalidae
Effect on SACC: This would transfer a genus that we have
already excised from Parulidae and placed in Incertae Sedis to the
Cardinalidae.
Background: SACC classification has already removed Granatellus,
with the following footnote:
33.
Recent genetic data (Lovette & Bermingham 2002) show that the genus Granatellus
is not a member of the Parulidae (but true relationships uncertain, perhaps
closest to Cardinalidae); Lowery & Monroe (1968) suspected that it did not
belong in the Parulidae, and Meyer de Schauensee (1966) suspected that it
belonged in the Thraupidae. Storer (1970a) suspected that plumage similarities
between Granatellus and Rhodinocichla suggested a close
relationship between the two. Genetic data (Klicka et al. 2007) indicate strong
support for placement in the Cardinalidae. Proposal badly needed.
Thus, we had already removed Granatellus from Parulidae,
where it had been traditionally placed, but with much reservation.
New information: Klicka et al. (2007) with broader
taxon-sampling, including all three Granatellus (2 extralimital to
SACC). confirmed what Lovette & Bermingham (2002) had suspected from their
analyses. Klicka et al.'s analysis included 102 genera of tanagers,
emberizines, and cardinalines. The genetic sampling consisted of 2281 bp of two
mitochondrial genes, ND2 and cyt-b ... a nice sample.
The critical node (#1 in their Fig. 1) that places Granatellus
within a group that also consists of Piranga, Habia, Chlorothraupis, Cardinalis,
Caryothraustes, Periporphyrus, Rhodothraupis, Pheucticus, Cyanocompsa,
Amaurospiza, Cyanoloxia, Passerina, and Spiza has strong support
(100% Bayesian, 78% MP bootstrap, 92% ML bootstrap); see the MS and Proposal
318 or additional details.
Analysis and Recommendation: mtDNA is widely
considered a reliable predictor of phylogeny at these levels of taxonomy, and
certainly these data sets represent the first truly scientific estimates of the
phylogeny and classification of this group. Two independent data sets now place
Granatellus within this group. There are no contrary data, and Granatellus
has been placed within Parulidae in the past largely on the basis of its small
body size and bill ... in other words, there are essentially no scientific data
for its placement in Parulidae or any other family.
Klicka et al.'s phylogeny placed Granatellus sister to a
monophyletic group that consists of the "blue" cardinalines (Passerina,
Cyanocompsa etc.) +Spiza. Sister to the Granatellus + Blue
group, is Pheucticus, and as Klicka et al. noted, Granatellus shares
red and black plumage with Pheucticus ludovicianus. Relationships among Pheucticus,
Granatellus, and the Blue group are weakly defined, however, and the
possibility remains that Pheucticus and Granatellus could be
sisters. Our current linear sequence will need to be modified to group, at
least until those deeper nodes are better-resolved, Pheucticus, Granatellus,
and the Blue group. Thus, placement in our current sequence will be only
temporary; placing Granatellus after Pheucticus (if this proposal
passes) is perhaps the best temporary solution.
I recommend a YES vote on this one -- for the first time, data
rather than general impressions can be used to place Granatellus in a
phylogenetic classification.
References:
KLICKA, J.,
K. BURNS, AND G. M. SPELLMAN. 2007. Defining a monophyletic Cardinalini: A
molecular perspective. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 45: 10141032.
LOVETTE, I.
J., AND E. BERMINGHAM. 2002. What is a wood-warbler? Molecular characterization
of a monophyletic Parulidae. Auk 119: 695-714.
Van Remsen
(in consultation with Kevin Burns and John Klicka), December 2007
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments from Stiles: "YES. Again, the change is
clearly mandated by the genetic data - they were decidedly odd
"warblers" in any case, and "chat" is a sufficiently
nonspecific English name that I see no need to tinker with it!"
Comments from Stotz: "YES. Always a weird
warbler, good to get clear placement somewhere."
Comments from Zimmer: "YES. Independent data sets
strongly support the change, with an absence of any conflicting data. As an
aside, I've always thought there was a Passerina-like quality and
pattern to calls and songs of the various Granatellus species, so Klicka
et al.'s findings regarding the relationships of the "blue group" to Granatellus
makes sense from the standpoint of vocal characters as well."
Comments from Robbins: "YES, there is strong
genetic support for placing Granatellus within the Cardinalidae.
Although this genus always seemed out of place within the Parulidae, I would
never have guessed that it was in a clade with Piranga, Habia, et
al."
Comments from Pacheco: "YES. Os resultados convergentes apresentados por dados
oriundos de trabalhos genéticos recentes confirmam de maneira mandatória a suspeita
iniciada nos anos 1960's."