ALLOZYME DIVERGENCE AND PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE STRIGIFORMES

Multilocus protein electrophoresis was used to study the phylogenetic relationships among seven species of Strigiformes. Genetic divergence was quantified by Nei's unbiased standard genetic distance, and dendrograms were computed both with distance and parsimony methods. Caprimulgus europaeus was used an an outgroup. The average genetic distance between Tyto alba and the Strigidae was DBAR = 1.49; among the Strigidae was DBAR = 0.88. Dendrograms computed with distance methods, with or without assuming a molecular clock, as well as the character state matrix tree, support the following phylogenetic relationships: Tytonidae and Strigidae are very divergent lineages; Athene is ancestral to most of the modern Strigidae and is related to Strix; Bubo is related to Otus; Asio otus and Asio flammeus show high genetic distance. These findings have been discussed taking into account both DNA-DNA hybridization data and the fossil record. A tentative calibration of the molecular clock is used to date divergence times among the studied taxa.