Premium
Habitat‐driven diversification, hybridization and cryptic diversity in the Fork‐tailed Drongo (Passeriformes: Dicruridae: Dicrurus adsimilis )
Author(s) -
Fuchs Jérôme,
De Swardt Dawie H.,
Oatley Graeme,
Fjeldså Jon,
Bowie Rauri C. K.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
zoologica scripta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1463-6409
pISSN - 0300-3256
DOI - 10.1111/zsc.12274
Subject(s) - biology , parapatric speciation , ecology , paraphyly , phylogeography , taxon , species complex , macroevolution , evolutionary biology , taxonomy (biology) , phylogenetic tree , cladogenesis , habitat , clade , genetic variation , gene flow , biochemistry , gene
Species complexes of widespread African vertebrates that include taxa distributed across different habitats are poorly understood in terms of their phylogenetic relationships, levels of genetic differentiation and diversification dynamics. The Fork‐tailed Drongo ( Dicrurus adsimilis ) species complex includes seven Afrotropical taxa with parapatric distributions, each inhabiting a particular bioregion. Various taxonomic hypotheses concerning the species limits of the Fork‐tailed Drongo have been suggested, based largely on mantle and upperpart coloration, but our understanding of diversity and diversification patterns remains incomplete. Especially given our lack of knowledge about how well these characters reflect taxonomy in a morphologically conservative group. Using a thorough sampling across Afrotropical bioregions, we suggest that the number of recognized species within the D. adsimilis superspecies complex has likely been underestimated and that mantle and upperpart coloration reflects local adaptation to different habitat structure, rather than phylogenetic relationships. Our results are consistent with recent phylogeographic studies of sub‐Saharan African vertebrates, indicating that widespread and often morphologically uniform species comprise several paraphyletic lineages, often with one or more of the lineages being closely related to phenotypically distinct forms inhabiting a different, yet geographically close, biome.