Proposal (685) to South American Classification Committee

Modify linear sequence of (A) genera and (B) species in Conopophagidae

Effect on SACC: This proposal is just bookkeeping to change the sequence of the two genera in the family to follow sequencing conventions, and to alter the linear sequence of species in Conopophaga to reflect the most recent phylogenetic data.

Background: The current sequence of genera is Conopophaga followed by Pittasoma. Our current sequence of species in Conopophaga, based on Whitney’s (2003) HBW chapter, is as follows:

Conopophaga aurita Chestnut-belted Gnateater
Conopophaga melanops Black-cheeked Gnateater
Conopophaga lineata Rufous Gnateater
Conopophaga roberti Hooded Gnateater
Conopophaga peruviana Ash-throated Gnateater
Conopophaga ardesiaca Slaty Gnateater
Conopophaga castaneiceps Chestnut-crowned Gnateater
Conopophaga melanogaster Black-bellied Gnateater
Pittasoma michleri Black-crowned Antpitta
Pittasoma rufopileatum Rufous-crowned Antpitta

New Information: Nothing new at the genus level, but the convention for sequencing genera is least-diverse first, and thus Pittasoma should precede Conopophaga.

At the species level, the phylogeny of Batalha-Filho et al. (2014), based on DNA sequence data (3 mitochondrial genes, 2 nuclear introns, 3300 bp) yields the following tree (which is difficult to read here; I recommend looking at the original – let me know if you need pdf):

Fig. 1. (a) Phylogenetic relationships of Conopophagidae. The topology was obtained by Bayesian inference based on 3309 bp of mitochondrial and nuclear gene concatenated sequences. Node supports are posterior probabilities (PP) and bootstrap (BT) values for Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood, respectively. Asterisks indicate when both PP and BT were maximum (1.0 and 100, respectively).

Most of the nodes received strong support, except for the 4-way polytomy that exists between the “magenta” and “blue” groups in the Figure. Conopophaga melanogaster and C. melanops are successive sisters the rest of the species, so their move to the beginning of the sequence is not controversial. After that, the placement of the 4 other clusters is arbitrary, and therefore should follow the traditional sequence

Conopophaga melanogaster Black-bellied Gnateater

Conopophaga melanops Black-cheeked Gnateater

Conopophaga aurita Chestnut-belted Gnateater

Conopophaga peruviana Ash-throated Gnateater
Conopophaga (“lineata”) cearae Ceara Gnateater (see proposal 684)

Conopophaga roberti Hooded Gnateater

Conopophaga lineata Rufous Gnateater

Conopophaga castaneiceps Chestnut-crowned Gnateater
Conopophaga ardesiaca Slaty Gnateater

By convention, sister taxa are listed by geographic range from NW to SE.

This proposal is divided into two parts, on both of which I recommend a YES vote:

A. Sequence of genera:

Pittasoma

Conopophaga

B. Sequence of species in Conopophaga:

Conopophaga melanogaster Black-bellied Gnateater

Conopophaga melanops Black-cheeked Gnateater

Conopophaga aurita Chestnut-belted Gnateater

Conopophaga peruviana Ash-throated Gnateater

Conopophaga (“lineata”) cearae Ceara Gnateater
Conopophaga roberti Hooded Gnateater

Conopophaga lineata Rufous Gnateater
Conopophaga castaneiceps Chestnut-crowned Gnateater
Conopophaga ardesiaca Slaty Gnateater

Van Remsen, October 2015

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Comments from Stiles: “YES to A and B, necessary to be consistent with prop. 684.”

Comments from Zimmer: “YES to A (based upon convention – although I feel compelled once more to voice my support for placing Pittasoma in a separate family that is sister to Conopophagidae). YES also to B, as necessitated by Proposal #684.”

Comments from Pacheco: “Yes to A and B. Consistent with my vote on 684.”