Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation.

ABSTRACT: Songbirds (oscine passerines) are the most species-rich and cosmopolitan bird group, comprising almost half of global avian diversity. Songbirds originated in Australia, but the evolutionary trajectory from a single species in an isolated continent to worldwide proliferation is poorly understood. Here, we combine the first comprehensive genome-scale DNA sequence data set for songbirds, fossil-based time calibrations, and geologically informed biogeographic reconstructions to provide a well-supported evolutionary hypothesis for the group. We show that songbird diversification began in the Oligocene, but accelerated in the early Miocene, at approximately half the age of most previous estimates. This burst of diversification occurred coincident with extensive island formation in Wallacea, whi

SUBMITTER: Moyle RG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5013600 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature