Phylogenetic position and subspecies divergence of the endangered New Zealand Dotterel (Charadrius obscurus).

ABSTRACT: The New Zealand Dotterel (Charadrius obscurus), an endangered shorebird of the family Charadriidae, is endemic to New Zealand where two subspecies are recognized. These subspecies are not only separated geographically, with C. o. aquilonius being distributed in the New Zealand North Island and C. o. obscurus mostly restricted to Stewart Island, but also differ substantially in morphology and behavior. Despite these divergent traits, previous work has failed to detect genetic differentiation between the subspecies, and the question of when and where the two populations separated is still open. Here, we use mitochondrial and nuclear markers to address molecular divergence between the subspecies, and apply maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods to place C. obscurus within the non-monophyleti

SUBMITTER: Barth JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3808304 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature