Mid-Pleistocene divergence of Cuban and North American ivory-billed woodpeckers.
We used ancient DNA analysis of seven museum specimens of the endangered North American ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) and three specimens of the species from Cuba to document their degree of differentiation and their relationships to other Campephilus woodpeckers. Analysis of these mtDNA sequences reveals that the Cuban and North American ivory bills, along with the imperial woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis) of Mexico, are a monophyletic group and are roughly equidistant genetically, suggesting each lineage may be a separate species. Application of both internal and external rate calibrations indicates that the three lineages split more than one million years ago, in the Mid-Pleistocene. We thus can exclude the hypothesis that Native Americans introduced North American ivory-billed woodpeckers to Cuba. Our sequences of all three woodpeckers also provide an important DNA barcoding resource for identification of non-invasive samples or remains of these critically endangered and charismatic woodpeckers.
Fleischer
Robert C
RC
Genetics Program, National Museum of Natural History and National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008, USA. fleischr@si.edu
Kirchman
Jeremy J
JJ
Dumbacher
John P
JP
Bevier
Louis
L
Dove
Carla
C
Rotzel
Nancy C
NC
Edwards
Scott V
SV
Lammertink
Martjan
M
Miglia
Kathleen J
KJ
Moore
William S
WS
D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003462:Cuba; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism; D004463:Ecology; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008954:Models, Biological; D009656:North America; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial