Abstract
The puffbirds (Bucconidae) are relatively poorly studied birds whose intrafamilial relationships have not yet been explored within a phylogenetic framework in a published study. Here, we performed a parsimony analysis of osteological data obtained following the examination of all the genera and 32 out of the 36 species recognized in Bucconidae currently. The analysis yielded eight equally parsimonious trees (426 minimum steps). Ambiguous relationships were observed only in Notharcus ordii, Malacoptila fusca, and Nonnula rubecula. Notably, Bucco was polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of Cyphos and Tamatia. In addition, the osteological data provided a well-resolved phylogeny (topological dichotomies) and the support indices indicated that most of the nodes were robust at all hierarchical levels. We thus propose the first revised classification of the Bucconidae.
Highlights
The Bucconidae comprises 10 genera and 36 species (Remsen et al, 2020) endemic to the Neotropics, with the highest diversity in the Amazon Basin
The first analysis of phylogenetic interrelationships among the Bucconidae was performed by Witt (2004) to estimate the mitochondrial DNA evolution rates for application in Neotropical avian biogeography studies, while Duarte (2015) performed a phylogenetic analysis including Nystalus based on molecular datasets
The present analysis revealed a well-resolved and strongly supported phylogeny, with high terminal taxa resolutions for all the Bucconidae species, save for the ambiguous relationships observed in Notharcus ordii (Cassin, 1851), Malacoptila fusca (Gmelin, 1788), and Nonnula rubecula (Spix, 1824)
Summary
The Bucconidae (puffbirds) comprises 10 genera and 36 species (Remsen et al, 2020) endemic to the Neotropics, with the highest diversity in the Amazon Basin. Some studies have been conducted on puffbirds, Steinbacher (1937) published the first anatomical description of some species of the Bucconidae, while Höfling & Alvarenga (2001) compared the shoulder girdle of this family with those of other birds, and Ladeira & Höfling (2007) described the cranial osteology of seven genera in the Bucconidae. Both of the latter studies did not entail systematics analyses.
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