Phylogeny of the eurasian wren nannus troglodytes (Aves: Passeriformes: Troglodytidae) reveals deep and complex diversification patterns of Ibero-Maghrebian and Cyrenaican populations

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Frederik Albrecht - , Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (Author)
  • Jens Hering - , Association of Saxon Ornithologists e. V. (Author)
  • Elmar Fuchs - , Association of Thuringian Ornithologists eV (Author)
  • Juan Carlos Illera - , University of Oviedo (Author)
  • Flora Ihlow - , State Museum of Zoology, Dresden, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (Author)
  • Thomas J. Shannon - , University of Aberdeen (Author)
  • J. Martin Collinson - , University of Aberdeen (Author)
  • Michael Wink - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Jochen Martens - , Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Author)
  • Martin Päckert - , Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (Author)

Abstract

The Mediterranean Basin represents a Global Biodiversity Hotspot where many organisms show high inter- and intraspecific differentiation. Extant phylogeographic patterns of terrestrial circum-Mediterranean faunas were mainly shaped through Pleistocene range shifts and range fragmentations due to retreat into different glacial refugia. Thus, several extant Mediterranean bird species have diversified by surviving glaciations in different hospitable refugia and subsequently expanded their distribution ranges during the Holocene. Such a scenario was also suggested for the Eurasian Wren (Nannus troglodytes) despite the lack of genetic data for most Mediterranean subspecies. Our phylogenetic multi-locus analysis comprised 18 out of 28 currently accepted subspecies of N. troglodytes, including all but one subspecies which are present in the Mediterranean Basin. The resulting phylogenetic reconstruction dated the onset of the entire Holarctic radiation of three Nannus species to the early Pleistocene. In the Eurasian Wren, two North African subspecies represented separate basal lineages from the Maghreb (N. t. kabylorum) and from the Libyan Cyrenaica (N. t. juniperi), being only distantly related to other Mediterranean populations. Although N. troglodytes appeared to be paraphyletic with respect to the Nearctic Winter Wren (N. hiemalis), respective nodes did not receive strong statistical support. In contrast, paraphyly of the Ibero-Maghrebian taxon N. t. kabylorum was strongly supported. Southern Iberian populations of N. t. kabylorum did not clade with Maghrebian populations of the same subspecies but formed a sister clade to a highly diverse European clade (including nominate N. t. troglodytes and eight further taxa). In accordance with a pattern also found in other birds, Eurasian populations were split into a western clade (Europe, Caucasus) and an eastern clade (Central Asia, Sino-Himalayas, East Asia). This complex phylogeographic pattern revealed cryptic diversification in N. troglodytes, especially in the Iberio-Maghrebian region.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0230151
JournalPloS one
Volume15
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 32191719

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

ASJC Scopus subject areas