title: Phylogeny and biogeography of the imperial pigeons (Aves: Columbidae) in the Pacific Ocean.
abstract: We reconstruct the phylogeny of imperial pigeons (genus Ducula) using mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. We evaluate the most likely biogeographic scenario for the evolution of this group that colonized many islands of the Pacific Ocean. The divergence time analysis suggests that the basal divergences within Ducula occurred more recently than in the fruit doves (genus Ptilinopus), a group that is also well diversified in Oceania. The imperial pigeons colonized the Melanesian region several times independently, and the diversification within this region led to several species in sympatry, in particular in the Bismarck archipelago. Central Polynesia was also colonized several times, first by a lineage during the Miocene that led to the large D. latrans, sister to the New Caledonian endemic D. goliath, then more recently by the widespread D. pacifica, during the Pleistocene. The phylogenetic pattern obtained with the extant Ducula species showed that the Eastern Polynesian endemics do not form a monophyletic group, with the Pacific Imperial Pigeon D. pacifica sister species with good support to the Polynesian Imperial Pigeon D. aurorae. However, the impact of recent anthropic extinctions has been important for the imperial pigeons, more than for the smaller fruit doves, suggesting that several Ducula lineages might be missing today.
authors.affiliation: Natural History Museum of Geneva, Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology, CP 6434, CH 1211 Geneva 6, Switzerland. Electronic address: alice.cibois@ville-ge.ch.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cibois
authors.affiliation: UMR7205 Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 51, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.affiliation: UMR7205 Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 51, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France; UMS MNHN/CNRS 2700 Outils et Méthodes de la Systématique Intégrative (OMSI), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 26, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bonillo
authors.affiliation: Conservation International, Arlington, VA 22202, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Filardi
authors.affiliation: UMR7205 Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 51, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France; UMS MNHN/CNRS 2700 Outils et Méthodes de la Systématique Intégrative (OMSI), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 26, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pasquet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D010856:Columbidae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Ducula; Island biogeography; Molecular phylogeny; Pacific Ocean; Polynesia