Phylogeographic analysis of the polytypic Red-crowned Ant Tanager Habia rubica (Cardinalidae) at a continental scale

PABLO D. LAVINIA; NATALIA C. GARCÍA; PATRICIA ESCALANTE; NATALIA TRUJILLO-ARIAS; KAZUYA NAOKI; CRISTINA Y. MIYAKI; FABRÍCIO R. SANTOS; PABLO L. TUBARO; DARÍO A. LIJTMAER

Raleigh

Congreso; Evolution 2014; 2014

The Neotropics harbor the highest avian diversity of the world, but the study of the processes leading to this accumulation of bird species has gained more attention just during the last two decades. Phylogeographic studies of Neotropical species have been concentrated mainly in the Amazon basin, the Andes mountain range and more recently the Atlantic Forest, but analyses at a continental scale are comparatively rare. In this study we explore the intraspecific diversity of the Red-crowned Ant Tanager (Habia rubica), a lowland forest dweller with a fragmented distribution with four major areas: Central America and southeastern Mexico; Pacific coast of southern Mexico; the Atlantic Forest in eastern South America; and the Yungas-Amazonia complex in western South America. This species is one of the most polytypic passerines in the region, with 17 subspecies, but several of these are poorly differentiated and hard to recognize. Here we include nearly 120 tissue samples from 9 countries throughout the species distribution and we perform genetic analyses based in two mitochondrial markers (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and cytochrome b) and two nuclear loci, one Z-linked (intron 9 of the low density lipoprotein receptor gene) and one autosomal (intron 5 of the β-fibrinogen gene). We have generated unrooted median-joining and statistical parsimony networks, and inferred phylogenies using both Bayesian and maximum parsimony methodologies. The analyses of the mitochondrial markers have shown the existence of four main lineages with deep divergence that match the fragmented areas of the species distribution.The deepest split is between the populations of Central America and Mexico from those of South America, despite the existence of a high genetic divergence (6-7% in mitochondrial DNA) both between the two northern clades (Central America-southeastern Mexico and Pacific coast of Mexico) and the two South American clades (Atlantic Forest and Yungas-Amazonia complex). Preliminary analysis of nuclear markers show less resolution but congruent results .Additionally, we are carrying out complementary studies of behavioral characters (vocalizations), and our preliminary results show the existence of significant differences in both temporal and frequency variables of the song that are consistent with the lineages found in the genetic analyses. We believe that the high divergence found among clades and the presence of differences in vocalizations suggest that a taxonomic revision of this species is needed. The analyses of the obtained patterns could also provide new insights into the history of some of the most overlooked forest habitats of the region.