Molecular Phylogenetics of the Genus Piranga: Implications for Biogeography and the Evolution of Morphology and Behavior

Species in the genus Piranga vary in degree of sexual dimorphism, plumage coloration, morphology, song, migratory patterns, and geographic distribution. To study these aspects of Piranga biology in an evolutionary context, I constructed a phylogeny for this genus using cytochrome-b sequence data. Parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses of DNA data reveal three possible phylogenies for species in this genus. All three trees identify a clade containing P. rubriceps, P. leucoptera, and P. erythrocephala and a clade containing P. rubra, P. ludoviciana, P. olivacea, P. bidentata, and P. flava. The trees differ in the placement of P. roseogularis. Morphology, song, and plumage data did not agree with these phylogenies. Levels of sequence divergence and the phylogeny of haplotypes are consistent with the idea that P. flava as currently described contains more than one evolutionary unit. Mapping the evolution of seasonal migration onto the DNA trees indicates that migration evolved once within Piranga.