Molecular phylogeny of the genus Attila Lesson, 1831 (Passeriformes: Tyrannidae)

Attila Lesson, 1831 belongs to the order Passeriformes, allocated in Tyrannidae, which currently comprises seven species (A. bolivianus, A. cinnamomeus, A. citriniventris, A. phoenicurus, A. rufus, A. spadiceus and A. torridus). This genus occurs in the Neotropical region, from western of Mexico to northeastern of Argentina. Attila was the target of some taxonomic studies, although no phylogenetic hypothesis has been proposed for the evolutionary relationships within this genus. The present work aimed to estimate a molecular phylogeny of Attila. We used sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome B belonging to all species in the genus (A. bolivianus, A. cinnamomeus, A. citriniventris, A. spadiceus and A. torridus), except A. phoenicurus and A. rufus, in addition to the outgroup (Megarhyncus pitangua, Myiodynastes maculatus and Pitangus sulphuratus). All sequences were obtained from GenBank. The sequences were aligned through the program MAFFT, using default parameters. A Bayesian analysis was run on program MrBayes to infer phylogenetics relationships within Attila. The genus Attila was recovered as monophyletic, presenting two major clades, one formed by A. bolivianus and A. citriniventris and another by A. cinnamomeus sister to A. spadiceus + A. torridus. Despite preliminary, our results support the genus’ monophyly. However, future studies should include more molecular markers and sample A. phoenicurus and A. rufus in to confirm the genus monophyly with a more powerful dataset.