02284nas a2200193 4500008004100000245010500041210006900146300001000215490000800225520169100233653002101924653001601945653001201961653002301973653001301996653001502009100002102024856004502045 2012 eng d00aSpeciation of Flightless Rails on Islands: A Dna-Based Phylogeny of the Typical Rails of the Pacific0 aSpeciation of Flightless Rails on Islands A DnaBased Phylogeny o a56-690 v1293 a

The living and extinct flightless rails of the Pacific are among the most species-rich examples of parallel evolution in vertebrates. The “typical” rails of this region comprise a diverse assemblage of long-billed species variously placed in the genera Rallus, Lewinia, Nesoclopeus, Gallirallus, Habropteryx, Tricholimnas, Aramidopsis, Amaurornis, Eulabeornis, and Habroptila. I present a phylogenetic hypothesis for this group based on Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of 12S, control region, and cytochrome-b data obtained from museum specimens (frozen tissues, toe pads from study skins, and bones from archaeological sites) of living and extinct species. All previously recognized genera are either monotypic or non-monophyletic, and I advocate lumping nearly all species into a broadly defined Gallirallus sensu lato. Volant species are not paraphyletic with respect to nearly all flightless species. Instead flightless species branch off in rapid succession from lineages leading to extant volant species. The nesting of the flightless species G. pendiculentus with G. philippensis suggests that the flightless condition may evolve prior to reproductive isolation. A locally calibrated relaxed molecular clock indicates that species from Oceania evolved only within the last 400,000 years, supporting the hypothesis that speciation proceeds rapidly in flightless rails. These results help resolve a long-standing taxonomic quagmire and have important implications for Pacific biogeography and the tempo and mode of speciation in island birds.

10aFlightless birds10aGallirallus10aOceania10aParallel evolution10aRallidae10aSpeciation1 aKirchman, J., J. uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1525/auk.2011.1109602763nas a2200193 4500008004100000245009800041210006900139300001200208490000700220520210100227653001602328653002702344653002402371653003302395653001202428653002702440100002102467856008102488 2009 eng d00aGenetic Tests of Rapid Parallel Speciation of Flightless Birds from an Extant Volant Ancestor0 aGenetic Tests of Rapid Parallel Speciation of Flightless Birds f a601-6160 v963 a

Prior to the extinction wave that followed the human colonization of Oceania, flightless rails (Aves: Rallidae) were among the largest radiations of island birds, and perhaps the most species-rich example of convergent evolution in vertebrates. Insular flightless species are thought to have evolved from extant, volant species that colonized from continental sources and rapidly followed parallel adaptive pathways to flightlessness. The present study provides the first test of this model of speciation using genetic data sampled throughout the range of a putative ancestral species. Mitochondrial control region sequences from 71 individuals of the Gallirallus philippensis species complex reveal essentially no geographic structure within archipelagos and only weak structure among archipelagos, with no major genetic breaks except for birds sampled in the Philippines. Demographic tests of coalescent models support a recent rapid expansion into Oceania (including Australia) out of the Philippines approximately 20 000 years ago. The estimated coalescence of G. philippensis mitochondrial alleles approximately 33 000 years ago closely corresponds to the expansion of humans into the archipelagoes of Near Oceania, suggesting that humans may have facilitated its colonization by exterminating flightless competitors and clearing lowland forests. Phylogenetic analyses that included all G. philippensis haplotypes and samples from 11 single-island endemic flightless species of Gallirallus indicate that G. philippensis is polyphyletic, but is not the ancestor of most of its flightless congeners, as previously thought. Nuclear gene sequences (β-actin inron 3) suggest that G. philippensis polyphyly is at least partly due to hybridization. The flightless condition evolves in rails before reproductive isolation is complete. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 96, 601–616.

10aancient DNA10ainsular flightlessness10aisland biogeography10amitochondrial control region10aOceania10areproductive isolation1 aKirchman, J., J. uhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01160.x/abstract