Morphological convergence in papyrus dwelling passerines

The morphology of eight African papyrus-dwelling passerine species (Laniari us mufumbiri, Cisticola carruthersi, Bradypterus carpalis, Acrocephalus ruf escens, Chloropeta gracilirostris, Ploceus (Sitagra) pelzelni, Ploceus (Tex tor) castanops, and Serinus koliensis) out of six lineages was compared wit h the morphology of congeneric species inhabiting various other habitats. M orphology was analyzed by using 17 external characters of three functional complexes. A principal component analysis of these data revealed general pa tterns of morphological variation but did not reveal specific convergent fe atures. Discriminant function analyses were first used to identify those tr aits which best separate the six lineages, then we searched for possible mo rphological differences between the papyrus-dwelling species and the non-pa pyrus species. By this new approach, existing convergent adaptations could be demonstrated and by plotting the data on two discriminant axes, patterns of phylogenetic vs. convergent differences could be graphically visualized . Convergence affected only a few traits but not overall phenotype. The pap yrus species showed convergent adaptations in traits of the hind limb and t o a lesser extent in the flight apparatus.