Table 2. Inferred dates of major passerine divergences and dispersal events.
| Node | Divergence | NPRS | PL | Sibley and Ahlquist* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acanthisittidae versus other passerines | 82† | 82† | — |
| 2 | Old World/New World Suboscines | 71 (3.3) | 67 (3.1) | 74 |
| 3 | Pittas/Broadbills | 57 (4.9) | 53 (3.3) | 57 |
| 4 | Origin of Malagasy Philepittidae | 43 (4.7) | 40 (3.0) | — |
| 5 | Tyrannoidea/Furnarioidea | 65 (5.1) | 61 (2.8) | 63 |
| 6 | “Suboscines”/oscines | 77 (1.7) | 76 (2.2) | — |
| 7 | Basal oscine divergence | 65 (2.6) | 62 (2.7) | 60 |
| 8 | Dispersal from Australasia (Picathartidae) | 47 (2.8) | 45 (2.6) | — |
| 9 | Dispersal from Australasia (Passerida) | 45 (2.9) | 44 (2.6) | 55 |
| 10 | Dispersal from Australasia (Vireonidae/Erpornis) | 40 (2.6) | 37 (2.5) | 41 |
| 11 | Dispersal into Africa (Vangini/Malaconotinae) | 29 (3.1) | 26 (2.5) | — |
| 12 | Dispersal into Africa (Culicicapa/Elminia) | 26 (3.2) | 27 (2.2) | — |
| 13 | Dispersal into New World (Troglodytinae) | 34 (3.8) | 34 (2.2) | 42 |
| 14 | Dispersal into New World (Vireonidae) | 28 (2.9) | 25 (2.4) | — |
| 15 | Dispersal into New World (Mimini) | 20 (2.8) | 22 (2.0) | 27 |
| 16 | Dispersal into New World (Emberizinae) | 20 (3.9) | 22 (1.8) | 32 |
| 17 | Dispersal into New World (NW jays‡) | 17 (2.9) | 14 (2.0) | — |
Values shown are the means (bootstrap SE) from 100 bootstrap-resampled data sets analyzed using NPRS (29) and penalized likelihood (PL; ref. 30) methods, along with comparable estimated dates based on DNA—DNA hybridization data (3). Italicized node numbers indicate phylogenetically independent date estimates that can be used to correlate our time scale to Sibley and Ahlquist's (3).
Dates derived using a 1 ΔT50H = 4.7 million-year calibration, based on geological dating of divergences within the ratites (3). Dashes in this column indicate that the corresponding clades and outgroup relationships were not recovered by Sibley and Ahlquist (Vangini/Malaconotinae, Vireonidae, NW jays), appropriate taxa were not sampled (Philepittidae), or the taxa were not included in their phenogram (Picathartidae).
Calibration point (see Methods and supporting information for justification).
The endemic group of jays, including the genera Aphelocoma, Calocitta, Cyanocitta, Cyanocorax, Cyanolyca, Gymnorhinus, and Psilorhinus; this group was not monophyletic in Sibley and Ahlquist's analyses.