Evolutionary history of a prominent North American warbler clade: The Oporornis–Geothlypis complex
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2009
Publication Title
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
53
Issue
3
First page number:
668
Last page number:
678
Abstract
The avian genera Oporornis and Geothlypis are thought to represent a single lineage of closely related New World wood-warbler (AOU Family Parulidae) species. Phylogenetic relationships within this assemblage have not yet been addressed using molecular genetic methods. We used sequence data from three mitochondrial (mtDNA) genes (cytochrome b, ND2, and control region) to reconstruct an hypothesis of relationships for this group. Our ingroup sampling included 34 individuals representing all currently recognized Oporornis (4 spp.) and Geothlypis (9 spp.) species. Our results indicate that Geothlypis is paraphyletic with respect to Oporornis formosus. The four members of Oporornis do not form a clade but instead comprise a grade at the base of the Oporornis–Geothlypis topology. Two species within Geothlypis are polyphyletic. The Costa Rican form of G. aequinoctialis is embedded within the Neotropical G. semiflava complex, and the widespread North American form G. trichas consists of at least two groups, each having a closer affinity to other Geothlypis species than with each other. Five Geothlypis species differ from one another on average by about 2% uncorrected (cytochrome b) divergence, indicating a rapid and recent radiation within this genus. Our phylogenetic hypothesis for this assemblage indicates that morphological characters such as size and plumage brightness that have traditionally defined relationships with Geothlypis are not concordant with molecular data. Most members of Geothlypis are sedentary whereas all members of Oporornis are long-distance Nearctic migrants. Our topology suggests that Geothlypis is derived from a migrant, Oporornis-like ancestor that ceased migration and established itself as a sedentary breeding population in the Neotropics. We speculate that an ecological switch from forested to more open habitats at this time led to range expansion and diversification in this new lineage.
Keywords
Evolutionary genetics; Geothlypis; Molecular genetics; Oporonis; Wood Warbler
Controlled Subject
Bird populations--Research; Evolutionary genetics; Wood warblers
Disciplines
Evolution | Molecular Genetics | Ornithology
File Format
File Size
592 KB
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited.
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Repository Citation
Escalante, P.,
Márquez-Valdelamar, L.,
De La Torre, P.,
Laclette, J. P.,
Klicka, J.
(2009).
Evolutionary history of a prominent North American warbler clade: The Oporornis–Geothlypis complex.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 53(3),
668-678.
Available at: