Eight independent nuclear genes support monophyly of the plovers: The role of mutational variance in gene trees

► Molecular phylogenies based on 2-4 gene histories recover the plovers as a paraphyletic group. ► Pluvialis was shown to be sister to the oystercatchers, stilts, and avocets, or ancestral to them and other plovers. ► Bayesian analysis of eight independent nuclear genes shows that the plovers are monophyletic. ► Earlier phylogenies failed to recover the plover species tree because of mutational variance.