Behavioural phylogeny of Bovidae

In this article, we examine the possible contribution of behavioural studies to the determination of phylogenetic relationships within the Bovidae. First, we revisit the general arguments concerning the use of behavioural traits as phylogenetic characters; then we present our first attempt at reconstructing the phylogeny of Bovidae based on behavioural data taken from the literature. Despite the limited number of characters used, several clades of low hierarchical levels are supported by this phylogenetic analysis, in much the same manner as by morphological and molecular ones. Several characters linked to male sexual behaviour appear to be among the more informative ones.