Comparative phylogeography of A ustralo‐ P apuan mangrove‐restricted and mangrove‐associated avifaunas

The world's richest mangrove‐restricted avifauna is in A ustralia and N ew G uinea. The history of differentiation of the species involved and their patterns of intraspecific genetic variation remain poorly known. Here, we use sequence data derived from two mitochondrial protein‐coding genes to study the evolutionary history of eight co‐distributed mangrove‐restricted and mangrove‐associated birds from the A ustralian part of this region. Utilizing a comparative phylogeographical framework, we observed that the study species present concordantly located phylogeographical breaks across their shared geographical distribution, a plausible signature of common mechanisms of vicariance underlying this pattern. Barriers such as the C anning G ap, B onaparte G ap, and the C arpentarian G aps all had important but varying degrees of impact on the studied species. The B urdekin G ap along A ustralia's eastern seaboard probably had only a minor influence as a barrier to gene flow in mangrove birds. Statistical phylogeographical simulations were able to discriminate among alternative scenarios involving six different geographical and temporal population separations. Species exhibiting recent colonizations into mangroves include R hipidura phasiana , M yiagra ruficollis , and M yzomela erythrocephala . By contrast, P eneoenanthe pulverulenta , P achycephala melanura , P achycephala lanioides , Z osterops luteus , and C olluricincla megarhyncha all had deeper histories, reflected as more marked phylogeographical divisions separating populations on the eastern seaboard/ C ape Y ork P eninsula from more western regions such as the A rnhem L and, the P ilbara, and the K imberley. © 2013 T he L innean S ociety of L ondon, B iological J ournal of the L innean S ociety , 2013, 109 , 574–598.