Male vocal behavior and phylogeny in deer

Thephylogenetic relationships among11 species of theCervidae familywere inferred fromananalysis ofmale vocalizations. Eighteen characters, including call types (e.g. antipredator barks, mating loudcalls) and acoustic characteristics (call composition, fundamental frequency and formant frequencies), were used for phylogeny inference. The resulting topology and the phylogenetic consistency of behavioral characters were compared with those of current molecular phylogenies of Cervidae and with separate and simultaneous parsimony analyses of molecular and behavioral data. Our results indicate that male vocalizations constitute plausible phylogenetic characters in this taxon. Evolutionary scenarios for the vocal characters are discussed in relation with associated behaviors. The Willi Hennig Society 2008