The origin and phylogenetic relationships of the New Zealand ravens.
The relationships of the extinct New Zealand ravens (Corvus spp.) are poorly understood. We sequenced the mitogenomes of the two currently recognised species and found they were sister-taxa to a clade comprising the Australian raven, little raven, and forest raven (C.coronoides, C. mellori and C. tasmanicus respectively). The divergence between the New Zealand ravens and Australian raven clade occurred in the latest Pliocene, which coincides with the onset of glacial deforestation. We also found that the divergence between the two putative New Zealand species C. antipodum and C. moriorum probably occurred in the late Pleistocene making their separation as species untenable. Consequently, we consider Corax antipodum (Forbes, 1893) to be a subspecies of Corvus moriorum Forbes, 1892. We re-examine the osteological evidence that led 19th century researchers to assign the New Zealand taxa to a separate genus, and re-assess these features in light of our new phylogenetic hypotheses. Like previous researchers, we conclude that the morphology of the palate of C. moriorum is unique among the genus Corvus, and suggest this may be an adaptation for a specialist diet.
Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch 8013, New Zealand. Electronic address: pscofield@canterburymuseum.com.
R Paul
RP
Scofield
Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Kieren J
KJ
Mitchell
Long-term Ecology Laboratory, Landcare Research, Post Office Box 69040, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand.
Jamie R
JR
Wood
Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch 8013, New Zealand.
Vanesa L
VL
De Pietri
Department of Zoology, Otago University, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
Scott
S
Jarvie
Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Bastien
B
Llamas
Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Alan
A
Cooper
D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D005075:Biological Evolution; D046368:Crows / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D005580:Fossils; D009520:New Zealand; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology
D004247:DNA; D045303:Cytochromes b
Ancient DNA; Corvus; Mitogenome; New Zealand raven; Osteology; Phylogeny