Phylogeography of three widespread neotropical avian taxa: rufous-tailed hummingbird, white-breasted wood-wren, and anthracothorax mangos

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Lelevier, Michael J.
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http://hdl.handle.net/11122/5182
Abstract
The three chapters presented in this thesis use molecular markers to examine the evolutionary history of three groups of widespread Neotropical birds. In chapter one, I found that Amazilia tzacatl forms a monophyletic clade and exhibits four genetic clades: Atlantic and Pacific slopes of Middle America, South America, and Isla Coiba. The Escudo Hummingbird (A. t. handleyi) is probably not a full biological species. Specimens from the eastern Darien province of Panama suggest that individuals from Middle and South America colonized this area within the past 25 years. In chapter two, I recovered an unresolved polytomy between Henicorhina leucosticta and its purported sister species, H. leucoptera Mitochondrial DNA suggests a South American origin for H.leucosticta-leucoptera wood-wrens. In contrast to previous studies, I recovered high levels of structure among Middle American populations contradicting the hypothesis of a recent Middle American expansion. In chapter three, phylogenetic reconstructions support the merging of the genus Eulampis into Anthracothorax, but the inclusion of Avocettula is not supported. Biogeographically, ancestral area reconstructions support the radiation of Anthracothorax mangos out of the West Indies onto the mainland, which represents the first recognized example of mainland colonization by West Indian taxa for the family Trochilidae.
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Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2008
Table of Contents
Preface -- General introduction -- References -- Phylogeography of the rufous-tailed hummingbird (Amazilia tzactl) -- Introduction -- Methods -- Taxon sampling -- Amplification and sequencing -- Phylogenetic analyses Historical demographic analyses -- Results -- Phylogenetic analyses -- Range expansion -- Historical demographic analyses -- Discussion -- Taxonomic signal -- Phylogenetic structure -- Recent Darien Range Expansion -- Acknowledgments -- Literature Cited -- Appendix -- The white-breasted wood-wren (Henicorhina leucosticta) shows high levels of phylogeographic structure throughout the neotropics -- Introduction -- Methods -- Taxonomic sampling amplification and sequencing -- Phylogenetic analyses -- Historical demographic analyses -- Molecular dating -- Results -- Phylogenetic relationships -- Historical demographic analyses -- Discussion -- Phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships -- Taxonomic recommendations -- Acknowledgements -- Literature cited -- Appendix -- Out of the west indies: biogeography and systematics of the widespread hummingbird genus Anthracothorax -- Introduction -- Study taxa -- Methods -- Taxon sampling -- Amplification and sequencing -- Phylogenetic analyses -- Ancestral area analysis -- Results -- Phylogenetic analyses -- Ancestral area analysis -- Discussion -- Taxonomic relationships -- Genes, movement, and biogeography -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix -- General conclusions.
Date
2008-08
Type
Thesis
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