Genetic variation among Corsican and continental populations of the Eurasian treecreeper (Aves: Certhia familiaris) reveals the existence of a palaeoendemic mitochondrial lineage |
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Authors: | Jean‐Marc Pons Jean‐Claude Thibault Jérôme Fournier Georges Olioso Marko Rakovic Guido Tellini Florenzano Jérôme Fuchs |
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Institution: | 1. Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Département Systématique et Evolution, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France;2. UMS MNHN/CNRS 2700 Outils et Méthodes de la Systématique Intégrative (OMSI), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris Cedex 05, France;3. Centre de Recherche sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France;4. , Port‐La‐Nouvelle, France;5. Natural History Museum of Belgrade, Njegoseva, Serbia;6. , Pratovecchio (AR), Italy |
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Abstract: | In this study we investigated the phylogenetics of the Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris), a forest passerine with a wide Palaearctic range including Corsica, using three mitochondrial genes and three nuclear introns, and its phylogeographic history using the COI gene. Our phylogenetic results, including eight of the ten sub‐species currently recognized, support the monophyly of C. familiaris with respect to its Indo‐Asian sister species C. hodgsoni. C. familiaris comprises two lineages that diverged during the mid‐Pleistocene (c. 1 Myr): one palaeoendemic lineage has an allopatric range nowadays restricted to the Corsica island and the Caucasus region whereas the second one, more recent and widespread, is distributed over most of Eurasia and in northern China. The most likely scenario that may explain such a pattern is a double colonization of the western Palaearctic from the eastern range of the species. During the middle Pleistocene period, a first lineage expanded its range up into Europe but did not persist through glacial cycles except in Corsica and the Caucasus region. Later, during the upper Pleistocene, a second lineage began to diversify around 0.09 Myr, spreading towards the western Palaearctic from a unique refuge likely located in the eastern Palaearctic correction added on 6 March 2015 after first online publication: 0.9 Myr amended to 0.09 Myr]. Apart from C. f. corsa, our results do not suggest any distinct evolutionary history for other sub‐species previously described on morphological grounds in Europe. Our study highlights the important conservation value of the Corsican treecreeper and emphasizes the major role of mature pine forests in the evolution of endemic bird taxa in Corsica. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 115 , 134–153. |
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Keywords: | Certhia COI Corsica island Palaearctic palaeoendemic lineage Pleistocene phylogeography |
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