title: Evolutionary history and biogeography of the drongos (Dicruridae), a tropical Old World clade of corvoid passerines.
abstract: We address the phylogenetic relationships of the drongos (Dicruridae) at the species-level using sequences from two nuclear (myoglobin intron-2 and c-mos) and two mitochondrial (ND2 and cytochrome b) loci. The resulting phylogenetic tree shows that the most basal species is D. aeneus, followed in the tree by a trichotomy including (1) the Asian D. remifer, (2) a clade of all African and Indian Ocean islands species as well as two Asian species (D. macrocercus and D. leucophaeus) and (3) a clade that includes all other Asian species as well as two Australasian species (D. megarhynchus and D. bracteatus). Our phylogenetic hypotheses are compared to [Mayr, E., Vaurie, C., 1948. Evolution of the family Dicruridae (Birds). Evolution 2, 238-265.] hypothetical family "tree" based on traditional phenotypic analysis and biogeography. We point out a general discrepancy between the so-called "primitive" or "unspecialized" species and their position in the phylogenetic tree, although our results for other species are congruent with previous hypotheses. We conduct dating analyses using a relaxed-clock method, and propose a chronology of clades formation. A particular attention is given to the drongo radiation in Indian Ocean islands and to the extinction-invasion processes involved. The first large diversification of the family took place both in Asia and Africa at 11.9 and 13.3Myr, respectively, followed by a dispersal event from Africa to Asia at ca 10.6Myr; dispersal over Wallace line occurred later at ca 6Myr. At 5Myr, Principe and Indian Ocean Islands have been colonized from an African ancestor; the most recent colonization event concerned Anjouan by an immigrating population from Madagascar.
authors.affiliation: UMR5202 Origine, Structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité, Département Systématique et Evolution, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 55 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pasquet
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cruaud
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bretagnolle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D005843:Geography; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013997:Time Factors; D014329:Tropical Climate