Ancient DNA elucidates the controversy about the flightless island hens (Gallinula sp.) of Tristan da Cunha.

Autor: Groenenberg DS; National Museum of Natural History Naturalis, Leiden, The Netherlands. groenenberg@naturalis.nl, Beintema AJ, Dekker RW, Gittenberger E
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2008 Mar 19; Vol. 3 (3), pp. e1835. Date of Electronic Publication: 2008 Mar 19.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001835
Abstrakt: A persistent controversy surrounds the flightless island hen of Tristan da Cunha, Gallinula nesiotis. Some believe that it became extinct by the end of the 19th century. Others suppose that it still inhabits Tristan. There is no consensus about Gallinula comeri, the name introduced for the flightless moorhen from the nearby island of Gough. On the basis of DNA sequencing of both recently collected and historical material, we conclude that G. nesiotis and G. comeri are different taxa, that G. nesiotis indeed became extinct, and that G. comeri now inhabits both islands. This study confirms that among gallinules seemingly radical adaptations (such as the loss of flight) can readily evolve in parallel on different islands, while conspicuous changes in other morphological characters fail to occur.
Databáze: MEDLINE