Fig 1.
Main localities sampled for Sporophila seedeaters in the Araguaia and Tocantins river basins, central Brazil, in 2001–2002 and 2009–2011.
The type locality of Hooded Seedeater Sporophila melanops is indicated by the letter “T” (= locality 14). Brazilian states are indicated by their official acronyms, as follows: PA = Pará, MT = Mato Grosso, MS = Mato Grosso do Sul, TO = Tocantins, GO = Goiás, and MG = Minas Gerais. Localities: 1. Araguacema; 2. Guaraí; 3. Barreira do Campo; 4. Caseara; 5. Miranorte/Miracema; 6. Fazenda Fartura, Santana do Araguaia; 7. Aparecida do Rio Negro; 8. Lagoa da Confusão 9. Luiz Alves/São Miguel do Araguaia; 10. Pantanal do Rio das Mortes; 11. Road to Rio do Peixe, northern Aruanã; 12. Cocalinho; 13. Aruanã; 14. Registro do Araguaia (type locality); 15. Barra do Garças/Serra Azul; 16. road to Torixoréu; 17. Alto Araguaia/rio Babilônia; and 18. Emas National Park. For a detailed itinerary of the three field trips in 2008–2010 see S3 Appendix.
Fig 2.
Comparison of the male type specimen of Hooded Seedeater Sporophila melanops (centre; NMW 20.316) with an equivalently plumaged male Dark-throated Seedeater S. ruficollis (left; NMW 20.332) and a fully adult male Yellow-bellied Seedeater S. nigricollis (right; NMW 20.463).
A) Ventral view, B) dorsal view, and C) lateral (left side) view. Throat patch colour and shape, extension and shape of the cap, and dorsal and ventral coloration, as well as mensural data, support the inclusion of S. melanops within the capuchinos clade. Genetic data strongly support the morphological conclusion.
Fig 3.
Comparison of the male type specimen of Hooded Seedeater Sporophila melanops (first on the right; NMW 20.316) with four differently plumaged male Dark-throated Seedeaters S. ruficollis (NMW 20.333, 20.330, 20.331, and 20.332) exemplifying intraspecific variation and different stages of breeding plumage acquisition.
The specimen to the left of the type was collected at the same time and place, and exhibits the same moult phenology and plumage pattern, further suggesting that the type specimen is an aberrant individual of S. ruficollis with a black cap.
Fig 4.
Comparison of the presumed female Hooded Seedeater Sporophila melanops (centre; AMNH 514890) with females of Double-collared Seedeater S. caerulescens (two on the left; AMNH 798423, 774792) and Yellow-bellied Seedeater S. nigricollis (two on the right; AMNH 318211, 163577).
A) Ventral view, B) dorsal view, and C) lateral (left side) view. Morphological and genetic comparisons indicate that this female belongs to the S. caerulescens/nigricollis clade, and not to the capuchinos clade, where both morphological and genetic analyses place the male type of S. melanops.
Table 1.
Specimens for which mtDNA sequences were obtained in this study.
Sequences of COI (+, 176 bp) and of the two different Cyt-b fragments: short (s, 176 bp) and long (l, 359 bp), are indicated. Sequences <200 bp are found in S3 Table, those of the long Cyt-b fragment are deposited in GenBank (accession numbers KU886564-886565).
Fig 5.
Mean (±SD) genetic divergence (p-distance) of the male holotype of Hooded Seedeater Sporophila melanops (above) and the presumed female (below) to samples from the nine well-supported clades of Sporophila [17] and S. frontalis based on sequences of COI and Cyt-b genes.
The red arrows indicate the clade to which each specimen belongs based on the lowest average distances in both genes and given the presence of many identical gene sequences in the same clade. See also S1 and S2 Tables.