Eric Pasquet

AN ENDEMIC RADIATION OF MALAGASY SONGBIRDS IS REVEALED BY MITOCHONDRIAL DNA SEQUENCE DATA

Abstract The bird fauna of Madagascar includes a high proportion of endemic species, particularly among passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes). The endemic genera of Malagasy songbirds are not allied obviously with any African or Asiatic taxa, and their affinities have been debated since the birds first were described. We used mitochondrial sequence data to estimate the relationships of 13 species of endemic Malagasy songbirds, 17 additional songbird species, and one species of suboscine passerine. In our optimal trees, nine of the 13 Malagasy species form a clade, although these birds currently are classified in three different families. In all optimal trees, the sister to this endemic clade is a group of Old World warblers including both African and Malagasy birds. The endemic Malagasy songbird clade rivals other island radiations, including the vangas of Madagascar and the finches of the Galapagos, in ecological diversity. Corresponding Editor: S. Edwards

The evolution of north‐east Atlantic gadfly petrels using statistical phylogeography

Macaronesia (north‐east Atlantic archipelagos) has been host to complex patterns of colonization and differentiation in many groups of organisms including seabirds such as gadfly petrels (genus Pterodroma). Considering the subspecies of widely distributed soft‐plumaged petrel for many years, the taxonomic status of the three gadfly petrel taxa breeding in Macaronesia is not yet settled, some authors advocating the presence of three, two or one species. These birds have already been the subject of genetic studies with only one mtDNA gene and relatively modest sample sizes. In this study, using a total of five genes (two mitochondrial genes and three nuclear introns), we investigated the population and phylogeographical histories of petrel populations breeding on Madeira and Cape Verde archipelagos. Despite confirming complete lineage sorting with mtDNA, analyses with nucDNA failed to reveal any population structuring and Isolation with Migration analysis revealed the absence of gene flow during the differentiation process of these populations. It appears that the three populations diverged in the late Pleistocene in the last 150 000 years, that is 10 times more recently than previous estimates based solely on one mtDNA gene. Finally, our results suggest that the Madeira petrel population is ancestral rather than that from Cape Verde. This study strongly advocates the use of nuclear loci in addition to mtDNA in demographical and phylogeographical history studies.

The complex phylogeography of the Indo-Malayan Alophoixus bulbuls with the description of a putative new ring species complex

The Indo‐Malayan bioregion has provided some of the most spectacular discoveries of new vertebrate species (e.g. saola, khanyou, bare‐faced bulbul) over the last 25 years. Yet, very little is known about the processes that led to the current biodiversity in this region. We reconstructed the phylogeographic history of a group of closely related passerines, the Alophoixus bulbuls. These birds are continuously distributed in Indo‐Malaya around the Thailand lowlands such that their distribution resembles a ring. Our analyses revealed a single colonization event of the mainland from Sundaland with sequential divergence of taxa from southwest to northeast characterized by significant gene flow between parapatric taxa, and reduced or ancient gene flow involving the two taxa at the extremities of the ring. We detected evidence of population expansion in two subspecies, including one that was involved in the closing of the ring. Hence, our analyses indicate that the diversification pattern of Alophoixus bulbuls fits a ring species model driven by geographic isolation. To our knowledge, the Alophoixus bulbuls represent the first case of a putative broken ring species complex in Indo‐Malaya. We also discuss the implications of our results on our understanding of the biogeography in Indo‐Malaya.

Phylogeny and biogeography of the imperial pigeons (Aves: Columbidae) in the Pacific Ocean

We reconstruct the phylogeny of imperial pigeons (genus Ducula) using mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. We evaluate the most likely biogeographic scenario for the evolution of this group that colonized many islands of the Pacific Ocean. The divergence time analysis suggests that the basal divergences within Ducula occurred more recently than in the fruit doves (genus Ptilinopus), a group that is also well diversified in Oceania. The imperial pigeons colonized the Melanesian region several times independently, and the diversification within this region led to several species in sympatry, in particular in the Bismarck archipelago. Central Polynesia was also colonized several times, first by a lineage during the Miocene that led to the large D. latrans, sister to the New Caledonian endemic D. goliath, then more recently by the widespread D. pacifica, during the Pleistocene. The phylogenetic pattern obtained with the extant Ducula species showed that the Eastern Polynesian endemics do not form a monophyletic group, with the Pacific Imperial Pigeon D. pacifica sister species with good support to the Polynesian Imperial Pigeon D. aurorae. However, the impact of recent anthropic extinctions has been important for the imperial pigeons, more than for the smaller fruit doves, suggesting that several Ducula lineages might be missing today.

Phylogenetic relationships of the Eastern Polynesian swiftlets (Aerodramus, Apodidae) and considerations on other Western Pacific swiftlets

ABSTRACT The patterns of colonisation and phylogenetic relationships of the swiftlets from Oceania, and in particular from the remotest archipelagos of Polynesia, remain a puzzle. In this study we used mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data to infer the colonisation patterns of swiftlets endemic to Eastern Polynesia. The three endemic taxa did not form a monophyletic group. The Tahiti Swiftlet (Aerodramus leucophaeus) and the Marquesan Swiftlet (A. ocistus) were closely related to the group formed by the Himalayan Swiftlet (A. brevirostris) and the two Indian Ocean species, Seychelles Swiftlet (A. elaphrus) and Mascarene Swiftlet (A. francicus). The third taxon from Eastern Polynesia, the Atiu Swiftlet (A. sawtelli) from the Cook Islands, forms a group with the Mariana Swiftlet (A. bartschi), and the Uniform Swiftlet (A. vanikorensis), a widely distributed species, from the Philippines to Melanesia. Thus the colonisation of the remotest areas of Oceania by swiftlets occurred through long-distance events, as opposed to a regular, stepping-stone pattern from the west to the east. These results add to the body of evidence suggesting that Eastern Polynesia constituted a ‘sink’, from which birds did not come back to recolonise western islands.

Complete mitochondrial genomes of the white-browed piculet (Sasia ochracea, Picidae) and pale-billed woodpecker (Campephilus guatemalensis, Picidae)

Abstract The mitochondrial genome of the white-browed piculet Sasia ochracea (Piciformes, Picidae) and the pale-billed woodpecker Campephilus guatemalensis (Piciformes, Picidae) were sequenced using a mixed strategy of Sanger and next-generation sequencing methods. The size of the circular mitochondrial genomes were 16 908 and 16 856 bp, respectively, and include 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer tRNAs, 2 ribosomal RNAs, a control region and a reduced pseudo control region. The functional control region was located between the tRNAThr and tRNAPro, as found in the two other Piciformes for which complete mtDNA data are available. The length of the pseudo-control region in the white-browed piculet (103 bp) and pale-billed woodpecker (87 bp) is similar to the size of that region in Dryocopus pileatus (60 bp) and much shorter that the length of this region in Pteroglossus azara (1493 bp), suggesting that size reduction occurred before the last common ancestor of the piculets and woodpeckers.

Comprehensive phylogeny of the laughingthrushes and allies (Aves, Leiothrichidae) and a proposal for a revised taxonomy

DNA phylogenies have gradually shed light on the phylogenetic relationships of the large babbler group. We focus in this study on the family Leiothrichidae (laughingthrushes and “song babblers”), which represents the largest clade of babblers in terms of species diversity. Our phylogeny includes all genera and 82% of the recognized species, using mitochondrial and nuclear loci. The sister group to Leiothrichidae is composed of the Pellorneidae (“jungle babblers”) plus the genus Alcippe. Within Leiothrichidae, four strongly supported primary clades (A–D) are recovered. Clade A includes Grammatoptila, Laniellus and Cutia. Clade B includes a large group of laughingthrushes, all of them classified in Trochalopteron. In Clade C, the two laughingthrushes endemic to southern India, T. fairbanki and T. cachinnans, which have recently been proposed to be placed in the newly erected genus Montecincla, form a sister clade to the group comprising the “song babblers” (Lioptila, Leiothrix, Heterophasia, Minla, Liocichla, Actinodura, Chrysominla, Siva, and Sibia). Clade D includes the African babblers (Turdoides, Phyllanthus, Kupeornis), Asian relatives (Argya, Acanthoptila, Chatarrhaea) and all remaining laughingthrushes (Garrulax). The time estimates suggest that the early diversification of the Leiothrichidae occurred in the mid‐Miocene, a period that corresponds to the diversification of many passerine groups in Asia. A revised taxonomic classification of the family is proposed in the light of these results.