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affinities. They have been using a suite of conserved nucleargenes to infer the relationships among passerine groups. Thisresearch is now being written up, and has turned up somesurprising results. It confirms that rockjumpers Chaetops arelinked to rockfowl Picathartes of West Africa, and together arebasal to the rest of the ‘Old World’ passerine radiation. Bycomparison, the Rockrunner Achaetops pycnopygius ofNamibia and SW Angola is closely linked to the GrassbirdSphenoeacus afer, and forms part of an African warbler cladeincluding crombecs Sylvietta and longbills Macrosphenus. TheFairy Flycatcher Stenostira scita is linked to the Elminias, agroup of small African flycatchers formerly placed with thecrested flycatchers but that are in fact distantly related to tits atthe edge of the Sylvoidea. Nicators are neither bulbuls norbush-shrikes, but also fall outside the core Sylvoidea. Perhapsthe most bizarre finding was that sugarbirds Promerops aremost closely related to the modulatrixes, a pair of enigmaticforest understorey skulkers confined to the Eastern ArcMountains of Tanzania, Malawi and northern Mozambique.Whether this entirely unexpected result is supported by furtherevidence remains to be seen.Highlights• Dr Rauri Bowie’s PhD dissertation was described by oneexaminer as worthy of two PhDs. He is presently apostdoctoral student in the Department of Ornithology atthe Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, USA) andwill take up a lectureship in the Department of Zoology andEntomology at the University of Stellenbosch in January2004.• Ms Mandiwana was appointed as a lecturer in NatureConservation at Technikon Pretoria. From September2003, she will be appointed as a researcher in theDepartment of Ornithology at the Transvaal Museum.• Ms Nangammbi was appointed as assistant curator (formolluscs) at the Natal Museum (Pietermaritzburg).• Dr Scott is currently an assistant curator in the Departmentof Herpetology at the Transvaal Museum.• Tim Crowe finally published both organismal (with DrGareth Dyke) and “total evidence” (with a range of coauthors)phylogenetic analyses of galliform birds.StudentsRauri Bowie (PhD, graduated June 2003); Birds, moleculesand evolutionary patterns among Africa's islands in the skyTshifhiwa Mandiwana (MSc, graduated June 2003, cosupervisorsDrs Rauri Bowie, Pamela Beresford and TerryHedderson (Department of Botany, UCT) The systematics of'red-winged’ francolins Scleroptila spp.Tshifhiwa Nangammbi (MSc, graduated June 2003, cosupervisorsDrs Rauri Bowie, Pamela Beresford and TerryHedderson (Department of Botany, UCT) The systematics of‘red-tailed’ francolins Peliperdix spp.Tyron Grant’s work on Neospiza buntings at Tristan da Cunhasuggests that the two species have evolved in parallel at bothInaccessible and Nightingale Islands. Photo: Peter RyanElizabeth Scott (PhD, University of Western Cape, graduatedJune 2003, co-supervisor Prof. Alan Channing); Thesystematics of frogs of the Subfamily PetropedetinaeKeith Barnes (PhD, co-supervisor Dr Paulette Bloomer); Theevolution of Africa´s larks AlaudidaeCallan Cohen (PhD); The evolution of the bustards:implications for African biogeography, evolution of displayand conservationJonathan van Alphen-Stahl (MSc, co-supervisor Dr PauletteBloomer); The phylogeography and speciation of HelmetedGuineafowlTyron Grant (MSc, University of Pretoria, co-supervisor DrPaulette Bloomer); The genetics of the rapidly evolvingNesospiza buntings of Tristan da Cunha.Liesl Solms (MSc, University of Pretoria, co-supervisor DrPaulette Bloomer); The systematics of African Bradypteruswarblers and the phylogeography of the Apalis thoracicacomplexVisitorsProf. Diana Lipscomb (George Washington University,Washington D.C., USA) and Dr Mari Källersjö and Steve Farris(Swedish Museum of Natural History) (along with Tim Crowe,Terry Hedderson and Rauri Bowie) helped to teach aWorkshop on Advanced Cladistics. The workshop was held inthe Department of Botany at UCT in January 2003 and wasattended by 42 students/staff from five universities and fourmuseums/ herbaria and other para-statal organizations.AcknowledgementsThe National Research Foundation, South Africa/ SwedenBilateral Programme and the Willi Hennig Society forfinancial support. The American Museum of Natural History(New York), Field Museum (Chicago), University College(Dublin), University of Pretoria and Boston University foraccess to facilities, specimens and logistical support.14 Percy FitzPatrick Institute Annual Report: July 2002 - June 2003