Species limits in Pteruthius (Aves: Corvida) shrike-babblers: a comparison between the Biological and Phylogenetic Species Concepts

Abstract

The question of how to define a species continues to divide biologists. Meanwhile, the application of different species concepts has led to disparate taxonomic treatments that confound conservationists and other biologists. The most widely followed guidelines to species designation in avian and other vertebrate taxonomy are Ernst Mayr’s Biological Species Concept (BSC) and Joel Cracraft’s version of the Phylogenetic Species Concept (PSC). Although the BSC is considered to be more conservative in its assignment of species status, there is a lack of research demonstrating differences in taxonomic treatment between the BSC and the PSC with reference to a multi-taxon multi-trait study system. We examined the case of five traditionally recognized species of shrike-babbler (Pteruthius) that have recently been divided into 19 species under the PSC. Re-analyzing previous morphological and molecular data and adding new vocal data, we propose a BSC classification of 9 species. However, taking into consideration geographic gaps in the sampling regime, we contend that additional data will likely reduce discrepancies between the total numbers of species designated under the PSC and BSC. The current PSC species total is a likely overestimate owing to species diagnosis based on characters that erroneously appear to be unique to a taxon at low sample size. The current BSC species total as here proposed is a likely underestimate on account of the conservative designation of taxa as subspecies in equivocal cases, e.g. where BSC species status is potentially warranted but may be masked by insufficient data.