Evolutionary history of New World crakes (Aves: Rallidae) with emphasis on the tribe Laterallini

Abstract

New World crakes are intriguing, poorly known birds with cursorial cryptichabits; they belong to two unrelated tribes: Laterallini and Pardirallini. Recentgenetic studies contributed to the phylogenetic knowledge of these tribes, buta complete phylogenetic reconstruction is still missing. Here, we present themost taxonomically complete dated gene-based phylogeny of New World crakes,with an emphasis on the Laterallini, including for the first time sequences ofCoturnicops notatus, Laterallus levraudi, L. jamaicensis tuerosi and L. xenopterus.We used multilocus (mtDNA + nucDNA) phylogenetic analyses and interpretedour results in light of the natural history of the group. Our novel results showthat: (1) L. xenopterus is sister to L. leucopyrrhus; (2) L. j. tuerosi is sister to L. spi-lonota; (3) C. notatus is sister to the clade that groups the remaining New Worldblack crakes (L. jamaicensis, L. j. tuerosi, L. rogersi, L. spilonota and L. spilopterus);and (4) L. levraudi and L. melanophaius conform a recently diverged clade. Thus,our results indicate polyphyly in this group, particularly for Laterallus and, forthe first time, for Coturnicops. We show that some discrepancies with previousstudies stem from misidentified samples or sequences of L. leucopyrrhus andAnurolimnas fasciatus. Finally, we provide new preliminary insights into specieslimits of some taxa, specifically for L. levraudi, L. melanophaius and L. j. tuerosi.Our results set the stage for integrative taxonomic assessments at the genericlevel in the Laterallini by incorporating phylogenetic (gene-based) and naturalhistory data.