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Megapodiidae

Megapodes

Joseph W. Brown
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taxon links [down<--]Galliformes Interpreting the tree
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The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

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Summary tree based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data (Birks and Edwards, 2002). This tree is consistent with a morphological character-based reconstruction (Jones et al., 1995) except for the placement of the root (within the mound builders for the latter). A. bruijnii, four species of Megapodius (M. bernsteinii, M. laperouse, M. nicobariensis, and M. geelvinkianus) and two species of Talegalla (T. cuvieri and T. jobiensis) were not included in these analyses. 

Containing group: Galliformes

Other Names for Megapodiidae

References

Birks, S. M., and S. V. Edwards. 2002. A phylogeny of the megapodes (Aves: Megapodiidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23: 408-421.

Clark, G. A. 1964. Life histories and the evolution of megapodes. Living Bird 3: 149-167.

Frith, H. J. 1956. Breeding habits of the family Megapodiidae. Ibis 98: 620-640.

Gill, F. and M. Wright. 2006. Birds of the World: Recommended English Names. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Jones, D., and S. Birks. 1992. Megapodes: recent ideas on origins, adaptations and reproduction. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 7: 88-91.

Jones, D. N., R. W. R. J. Dekker, and C. S. Roselaar. 1995. The Megapodes. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
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Scientific Name Alectura lathami
Location Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Australian Brush-Turkey
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2005 Pierre Pouliquin
Scientific Name Megapodius reinwardt castanotus
Location Cairns, QLD, Australia
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Orange-footed Scrubfowl (Megapodius reinwardt)
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2006 David Cook
About This Page

Joseph W. Brown
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Joseph W. Brown at

Page: Tree of Life Megapodiidae. Megapodes. Authored by Joseph W. Brown. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Brown, Joseph W. 2005. Megapodiidae. Megapodes. Version 20 December 2005 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Megapodiidae/26297/2005.12.20 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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