title: Was the exposed continental shelf a long-distance colonization route in the ice age? The Southeast Asia origin of Hainan and Taiwan partridges.
abstract: Research on island biotas has greatly contributed to the development of modern evolutionary and biogeographic theories. Until now, most studies have suggested that continental islands received their biotas directly from the adjacent mainland. However, only a few studies have indicated that species on continental islands might originate from other distantly non-adjacent regions. Here, we used the hill partridges (genus Arborophila) that are widely distributed in the southwest and southeast China mainland, Indochina, Hainan and Taiwan islands to test whether species on continental islands might originate from distant regions rather than the adjacent mainland. Based on molecular phylogenies inferred from three mitochondrial fragments and three nuclear introns, together with ancestral area reconstruction, we found that the ancestors of the endemic Hainan and Taiwan partridges (A. ardens and A. crudigularis) likely originated from Indochina, rather than the nearby southeast China mainland. The divergence time estimates demonstrate that their ancestors likely colonized Hainan and Taiwan islands using the long exposed continental shelf between Indochina, Hainan and Taiwan islands during glacial periods, which had not been demonstrated before. Thus, integrating distribution data with phylogenetic information can shed new lights on the historical biogeography of continental islands and surrounding mainland regions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: De
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 10610, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shou-Hsien
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and College of Ecology and Evolution, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Medium Altitude Experimental Station, Endemic Species Research Institute, Nantou 55244, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheng-Te
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: zzw@bnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhengwang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005580:Fossils; D046094:Galliformes / Q000145:classification*; D007438:Introns; D062312:Islands; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Biogeography; Continental islands; Exposed continental shelf; Hill partridges; Phylogeny; Southeast Asia