| Titre : | Phylogeography of the Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa: substructuring revealed by mtDNA control region sequences |
| Auteurs : | Jacob Höglund, Auteur ; Tomas Johansson, Auteur ; Albert Beintema, Auteur ; Hans Schekkerman, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Journal of Ornithology (150(1) JAN 2009) |
| Article en page(s) : | 45-53 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Résumé : | Black-tailed (Limosa limosa) and Hudsonian Godwits (L. haemastica) are sometimes described as a superspecies. The Black-tailed Godwit is further split into three subspecies on the basis of morphological differences ( L. l. limosa, L. l. islandica and L. l. melanuroides). We studied variation in partial mtDNA control region sequences among Black-tailed and Hudsonian Godwits which showed 5% divergence. Black-tailed and Hudsonian Godwits were thus clearly differentiated and the separate species status for the two taxa is validated. All three subspecies described for the Black-tailed Godwit had unique haplotypes but the genetic distances were small (0.3-0.6%). Despite small genetic differences we could not detect any substantial gene flow between any of the subspecies as haplotypes were private to each subspecies. Thus, genetic variation within Black-tailed Godwits showed a clear geographic structure. We found a high proportion of rare private haplotypes in three fringe populations of the nominate subspecies of the Black-tailed Godwit (L. l. limosa) where godwits breed in low numbers, but no genetic variation at all in a sample from the Netherlands where godwits are abundant. This suggests that Dutch Godwits may have been affected by a founder effect. |



