Irestedt, M, Fabre, P-H, Batalha-Filho, H, Jønsson, KA, Roselaar, CS,
Sangster, G & Ericson, PGP 2013. The spatio-temporal colonization
and diversification across the Indo-Pacific by a ‘great speciator’
(Aves, Erythropitta erythrogaster). Proc. R. Soc. London B 280: 20130309
(in
press).http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1759/20130309.full.pdf
The
Indo-Pacific region has arguably been the most important area for the
formulation of theories about biogeography and speciation, but modern
studies of the tempo, mode and magnitude of diversification across this
region are scarce. We study the biogeographic history and characterize
levels of diversification in the wide-ranging passerine bird
Erythropitta erythrogaster using molecular, phylogeographic and
population genetics methods, as well as morphometric and plumage
analyses. Our results suggest that E. erythrogaster colonized the
Indo-Pacific during the Pleistocene in an eastward direction following a
stepping stone pathway, and that sea-level fluctuations during the
Pleistocene may have promoted gene flow only locally. A molecular
species delimitation test suggests that several allopatric island
populations of E. erythrogaster may be regarded as species. Most of
these putative new species are further characterized by diagnostic
differences in plumage. Our study reconfirms the E. erythrogaster
complex as a ‘great speciator’: it represents a complex of up to 17
allopatrically distributed, reciprocally monophyletic and/or
morphologically diagnosable species that originated during the
Pleistocene. Our results support the view that observed latitudinal
gradients of genetic divergence among avian sister species may have been
affected by incomplete knowledge of taxonomic limits in tropical bird
species.
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