Phylogenetic position of the genus Tetraophasis (Aves, Galliformes, Phasianidae) as inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear sequences

The genus Tetraophasis is endemic to China and the systematic relationships of the genus in Phasianidae based solely on their morphology are not clear. The phylogenetic position of this genus and other genera in Phasianidae was investigated in this study using the mitochondrial genes cytochrome b (CYT B), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and nuclear ovomucoid intron G (OVO-G). Maximum parsimony, Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses were employed. Comparison between the mitochondrial and nuclear findings suggested that our final combined data had higher resolving power than the separate data. Both separate data and combined data yielded a sister relationship between Tetraophasis and Lophophorus with strong support, which provided new evidence that pheasants and partridges were not monophyletic. In addition, our results indicated a basal position of Ithaginis, but the position of Perdix and Pucrasia were still unresolved. The result of this study provided a phylogenetic background for a revised classification of Galliformes.