Authors: WARREN, BEN H.; BERMINGHAM, ELDREDGE¹; PRYS-JONES, ROBERT P.²; THEBAUD, CHRISTOPHE³

Source: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 85, Number 3, July 2005 , pp. 271-287(17)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

Molecular phylogenies of island organisms provide useful systems for testing hypotheses of convergent or parallel evolution, since selectively neutral molecular characters are likely to be independent of phenotype, and the existence of similar environments on multiple isolated islands provides numerous opportunities for populations to evolve independently under the same constraints. Here we construct a phylogenetic hypothesis for Hypsipetes bulbuls of the western Indian Ocean, and use this to test hypotheses of colonization pattern and phenotypic change among islands of the region. Mitochondrial sequence data were collected from all extant taxa of the region, combined with sequence data from relevant lineages in Asia. Data are consistent with a single Hypsipetes colonization of the western Indian Ocean from Asia within the last 2.6 Myr. The expansion of Hypsipetes appears to have occurred rapidly, with descendants found across the breadth of its western Indian Ocean range. The data suggest that a more recent expansion of Hypsipetes madagascariensis from Madagascar led to the colonization of Aldabra and a secondary colonization of the Comoros. Groupings of western Indian Ocean Hypsipetes according to phenotypic similarities do not correspond to mtDNA lineages, suggesting that these similarities have evolved by convergence or parallelism. The direction of phenotypic change cannot be inferred with confidence, since the primary expansion occurred rapidly relative to the rate of mtDNA substitution, and the colonization sequence remains uncertain. However, evidence from biogeography and comparison of independent colonization events are consistent with the persistence of a small grey continental bulbul in India and Madagascar, and multiple independent origins of large size and green plumage in insular island populations of the Comoros, Mascarenes and Seychelles. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 85, 271–287.

Keywords: convergent evolution; homoplasy; Madagascar; molecular clock; parallel evolution; phylogeography

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2005.00492.x

Affiliations: 1: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 0948, APO AA 34002–0948, USA 2: Bird Group, Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Akeman Street, Tring, Herts HP23 6AP, UK 3: Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, Bât. 4R3, UMR 5174 CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France

Publication date: 2005-07-01

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Biology
• By this author: WARREN, BEN H. ;  BERMINGHAM, ELDREDGE ;  PRYS-JONES, ROBERT P. ;  THEBAUD, CHRISTOPHE

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers