Terry Chesser, Ph.D. (Former Employee)

Phylogenetic analysis of the family Furnariidae (Aves: Passeriformes) indicates that the genus Asthenes is polyphyletic, consisting of two groups that are not sister taxa. Pseudasthenes, a new genus of ovenbird, is described for one of these groups. The four species included in the new genus, formerly placed in Asthenes, are P. humicola, P. patagonica, P. steinbachi, and P. cactorum.

Phylogenetic analysis of the family Dendrocolaptidae (Aves: Passeriformes) indicates that the two species traditionally placed in the genus Deconychura are not sister taxa. Certhiasomus, a new genus of woodcreeper, is described for one of these species, C. stictolaemus.

We investigated the phylogenetic relationships of Campylorhamphus pucherani using DNA sequences from three mitochondrial genes and a nuclear intron, as well as 84 morphological characters from the skeleton, the integument, and the musculature. The molecular phylogeny indicated that C. pucherani is not part of Campylorhamphus; instead, it is the sister species to Drymornis bridgesii, in a...

[No abstract available]

The Andes are a hotspot of global avian diversity, but studies on the historical diversification of Andean birds remain relatively scarce. Evolutionary studies on avian lineages with Andean–Patagonian distributions have focused on reconstructing species-level phylogenies, whereas no detailed phylogeographic studies on widespread species have been conducted. Here, we describe...

The infraorder Furnariides is a diverse group of suboscine passerine birds comprising a substantial component of the Neotropical avifauna. The included species encompass a broad array of morphologies and behaviours, making them appealing for evolutionary studies, but the size of the group (ca. 600 species) has limited well-sampled higher-level phylogenetic studies. Using DNA sequence...