For those on birding-aus interested.
Regards
Richard Baxter
Tony Pym <> wrote:
A paper in the journal Molecular Ecology by Pierre Jouventin et al has shown,
as expected, that the Rockhopper Penguin should be split and recognised as two
species, E. chrysocome and Eudyptes moseleyi .
For information, here's an abstract:
The taxonomic status of populations of rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes
chrysocome) is still enigmatic. Northern populations differ from southern ones
in breeding phenology, song characteristics and head ornaments used as mating
signals. We conducted a molecular analysis using mitochondrial DNA sequencing
to test if there is a gene flow barrier between northern (subtropical)
populations and southern (subantarctic) populations in relation to the
Subtropical Convergence, a major ecological boundary for marine organisms.
Sequences of the control region and the ND2 gene were analysed in rockhopper
penguins and in the macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus), a closely related
species. Genetic distances and phylogenetic analyses showed a clear split into
three clades, two rockhopper clades and the macaroni penguin. Moreover, ÈST and
gene flow estimates also suggested genetic structuring within the northern
rockhoppers. Our results add further support to the notion that the two
rockhopper penguin taxa, often considered as two subspecies, can be recognized
as two species E. chrysocome and E. moseleyi. The divergence in mating signals
found between these two taxa seems to have occurred recently and relatively
rapidly. Thus, the behavioural changes may have been enough to isolate these
taxa without the need for morphological differentiation. The findings have
important conservational implications, since E. moseleyi is far less abundant
than E. chrysocome, but more populations may warrant an uplisting to endangered
status if full species status should be recognized for more subpopulations.
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