The phylogeny of charadriiform birds (shorebirds and allies) - reassessing the conflict between morphology and molecules

Multiple molecular analyses provide a congruent and well-supported phylogeny of the charadriiform family-level taxa, which conflicts with previous hypotheses based on osteological data. In order to revise the latter and to identify new characters of phylogenetic significance, skeletons of most charadriiform family-level taxa were examined and 49 characters analysed. Tree topology was sensitive to outgroup choice, but the result of the analysis rooted with Columbidae ( doves and pigeons) recovered a monophyletic Scolopaci, Charadrii, and nonturnicid Lari. With regard to the inclusion of Alcidae and Glareolidae in the Lari, the results of the present study are also in better concordance with the new molecular phylogenies than previous analyses of morphological data. Furthermore, for the first time an apomorphy of a clade including Thinocoridae, Pedionomidae, Rostratulidae, and Jacanidae was identified. Inclusion of Turnicidae in the Lari could not be supported, but there is no strong morphological evidence for an alternative placement. Pluvianus shares derived osteological features with the Burhinidae, and its position in the molecular analyses likewise cannot be corroborated with morphological data. Based on the topology of the molecular consensus tree, the ancestral state of selected characters is reconstructed. It is finally noted that recent calibrations of molecular analyses, which indicate an origin of extant charadriiform lineages in the Cretaceous, are based on incorrectly identified fossils. (C) 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 161, 916-934.