Peripheral morphology is associated with restricted lineage diversification and endemism across a large passerine radiation

Aim: Across a variety of taxonomic scales species diversity is unevenly distributed among its constituent units, and clades with few species are more common than expected assuming homogeneous rates of speciation and extinction among lineages. In order to explain the prevalence of species poor families among a global and speciose radiation of passerine birds, we test whether these groups share common eco-morphological, geographic and phylogenetic attributes.

Location: Global

Time period: Late Oligocene to the present day

Major taxa studied: The Corvides (ca. 790 species)

Methods: We obtained 10 linear measurements of external morphology for 782 species of corvoid passerines. Using these measurements as a proxy for species ecology, we assessed the positioning of corvoid families in eco-morphological trait space, and how these factors are associated with their species richness and rates of lineage diversification. Subsequently, we compared these same characteristics (species ...