Dear All,
Some of you may remember a posting I put on Birding Aus way back in March
1999. It went like this (to refresh your memories):
>I recently heard some interesting taxonomic gossip re Macgregor's Bird of
Paradise (BoP) & was wondering if anyone could shed a bit more light on
>the topic. It appears from recent DNA studies that this species is in fact
not a BoP at all but a very large honeyeater! This doesn't >surprise me too
much because if it is a BoP, it's a rather odd one not least because it is
monogamous. I am not 100% sure who >has done this work but I think Les
Christidis had a hand in it. It will probably be published in an American
journal. Sorry to be so >vague. Any comments, Phil Gregory & other New
Guinea experts?
I have recently obtained a copy of the paper pertaining to this work. It is
titled "What is not a bird of paradise? Molecular and morphological
evidence places Macgregoria in the Meliphagidae and the Cnemophilinae near
the base of the corvoid tree". The authors are Joel Cracraft and Julie
Feinstein, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society London (2000).
Cracraft and Feinstein have come to some fascinating conclusions based on
their work. To sum up very briefly, they maintain that the molecular and
morphological data support the placement of Macgregors BoP in the
Meliphagidae and that the Macgregoria is a sister group of Melipotes - a
New Guinea genus including Spangled and Common Smoky Honeyeater. They
conclude that the Cnemophilines (Loria's, Yellow-breasted and Crested BoP)
are not BoP's or bowerbirds (as they have been grouped with in the past)
and should be placed in a separate group at the base of the corvoid tree
representing an early lineage. They propose that the vernacular names of
these birds be amended to Loria's, Yellow-breasted and Crested Cnemophilus
(meaning 'lover of the mountain slope' apparently) and Macgregor's
Honeyeater.
Interestingly, they also postulate that given these conclusions there is
now no compelling evidence to support the conclusion that the manucodes
should be included in the Paradisaeinae. In their words "Because
cnemophilines and Macgregoria have been placed at the base of the
paradisaeid tree, hypotheses of morphological, behavioural and ecological
character-state transformations within the family will require reanalysis."
If anyone would like a copy of the paper, let me know and I'll mail you a
photocopy. Anyway, hope you find this of some interest.
cheers,
Susan
Susan Myers
ph. +61 3 9899 9303
fax +61 3 9890 8911
http://www.birdingworldwide.com.au
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