A Paleogene origin for crown passerines and the diversification of the Oscines in the New World

Abstract

In this study, we present a detailed family-level phylogenetic hypothesis for the largest avian order (Aves: Passeriformes) and an unmatched multi-calibrated, relaxed clock inference for the diversification of crown passerines. Extended taxon sampling allowed the recovery of many challenging clades and elucidated their position in the tree. Acanthisittia appear to have diverged from all other passerines at the early Paleogene, which is considerably later than previously suggested. Thus, Passeriformes may be younger and represent an even more intense adaptive radiation compared to the remaining avian orders. Based on our divergence time estimates, a novel hypothesis for the diversification of modern Suboscines is proposed. According to this hypothesis, the first split between New and Old World lineages would be related to the severing of the Africa-South America biotic connection during the mid-late Eocene, implying an African origin for modern Eurylaimides. The monophyletic status of groups not recovered by any subsequent study since their circumscription, viz. Sylvioidea including Paridae, Remizidae, Hyliotidae, and Stenostiridae; and Muscicapoidea including the waxwing assemblage (Bombycilloidea) were notable topological findings. We also propose possible ecological interactions that may have shaped the distinct Oscine distribution patterns in the New World. The insectivorous endemic Oscines of the Americas, Vireonidae (Corvoidea), Mimidae, and Troglodytidae (Muscicapoidea), probably interfered with autochthonous Suboscines through direct competition. Thus, the Early Miocene arrival of these lineages before any other Oscines may have occupied the few available niches left by Tyrannides, constraining the diversification of insectivorous Oscines that arrived in the Americas later. The predominantly frugivorous-nectarivorous members of Passeroidea, which account for most of the diversity of New World-endemic Oscines, may not have been subjected to competition with Tyrannides. In fact, the vast availability of frugivory niches combined with weak competition with the autochthonous passerine fauna may have been crucial for passeroids to thrive in the New World.

Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation

“…1) more recent than hypothesized by most studies (but see refs 12, 13, 20). The first songbird lineages diverged in the Oligocene (basal oscines; Fig.…”

“…As an example, at the base of the Passerides we found strong support for sequential branching of the New Guinea endemic Cnemophilidae and Melanocharitidae followed by the New Zealand endemic Callaeidae and then a sister pairing of the Picathartidae (Africa and Asia) and Petroicidae (Australasia). These families have been placed in various configurations near the Passerides and Corvides in previous studies2791315 but their unanticipated affinities require reinterpretation of previous biogeographic hypotheses.…”

“…However, this set of palaeobiogeographic hypotheses produced an evolutionary chronology incongruent with other aspects of geologic history, such as the Miocene formation of New Guinea and Wallacea2223. Recent studies using a variety of fossil calibration points offered an alternative time frame for bird diversification that is substantially younger, but they included few songbirds1920 or did not resolve basal songbird relationships1213.…”

“…Early molecular phylogenetic studies and the fossil record support the hypothesis that songbirds originated in Australia2345, but most other aspects of early songbird evolution remain uncertain6. Prior research suggested songbird diversification scenarios that are largely uncoupled from Earth history, including extensive diversification of lineages in New Guinea before its emergence as a landmass78 and long-distance dispersal to Africa or Asia when no dispersal corridors existed2791011 (but see refs 12, 13, 14). However, these inferences may be compromised by reliance on unresolved phylogenetic relationships and a controversial biogeographic time calibration.…”

Rapid and recent diversification of curassows, guans, and chachalacas (Galliformes: Cracidae) out of Mesoamerica: Phylogeny inferred from mitochondrial, intron, and ultraconserved element sequences

“…Some birds, such as migratory species and those dependent on freshwater and marine habitats, are highly vagile and clearly capable of colonization via long distance dispersal (Billerman et al, 2011;Moralez-Silva and Nassif Del Lama, 2014). The limited distance between South America and Africa early in the Cenozoic, in concert with the likely existence of islands spanning the South Atlantic (Selvatti et al, 2015), could have facilitated colonization of South America from Africa during this period (Poux et al, 2006).…”