Piciformes

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Lots of avian "orders" appear to be falling apart when exposed to molecular 
analysis - but here's one case of one (Piciformes) holding together.  The 
Coraciiformes also comes up as monophyletic (albeit less confidently), if 
the trogons (Trogonidae) are included.


Johansson U.S. and Ericson P.G.P. (2003).  Molecular support for a sister 
group relationship between Pici and Galbulae (Piciformes sensu Wetmore 1960) 
 J. Avian Biol. 34 (2): 185-197.

Abstract:  Woodpeckers, honeyguides, barbets, and toucans form a 
well-supported clade with approximately 355 species. This clade, commonly 
referred to as Pici, share with the South American clade Galbulae (puffbirds 
and jacamars) a zygodactyls foot with a unique arrangement of the deep 
flexor tendons (Gadow's Type VI). Based on these characters, Pici and 
Galbulae are often considered sister taxa, and have in traditional 
classification been placed in the order Piciformes. There are, however, a 
wealth of other morphological characters that contradicts this association, 
and indicates that Pici is closer related to the Passeriformes (passerines) 
than to Galbulae. Galbulae, in turn, is considered more closely related to 
the rollers and ground-rollers (Coracii). In this study, we evaluate these 
two hypotheses by using DNA sequence data from exons of the nuclear RAG-1 
and c-myc genes, and an intron of the nuclear myoglobin gene, totally 
including 3400 basepairs of aligned sequences. The results indicate a sister 
group relationship between Pici and Galbulae, i.e. monophyly of the 
Piciformes, and this association has high statistical support in terms of 
bootstrap values and posterior probabilities. This study also supports 
several associations within the traditional order Coraciiformes, including a 
sister group relationship between the kingfishers (Alcedinidae) and a clade 
with todies (Todidae) and motmots (Momotidae), and with the bee-eaters 
(Meropidae) placed basal relative to these three groups.

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