Taylor 2006 (HBW11) comments: "Race iberiae sometimes considered unwarranted, being merely an intergrade between latter [speculigera] and nominate [hypoleuca]". :eek!:
Richard
Thanks Richard,
Yep I read that, but now that the split Atlas/Pied seems to be more widely accepted I wonder in which side will
iberiae finally end up.
Visually there can't be much debate, looks much closer to Atlas, sometimes almost impossible to tell apart. I've been a few times in big trouble while ringing in the Balearics, trying to decide if a trapped bird was an
iberiae or maybe an Atlas Fly. Genetics may tell a different story though.
Found this from the BOU website (for another thread 6 years ago!):
"Atlas Flycatcher Ficedula speculigera.
The Eurasian black-and-white flycatchers have been treated as three separate species: Pied Ficedula hypoleuca, Collared F. albicollis and Semi-collared F. semitorquata. Adult males are diagnosably distinct on the basis of rump colour, size of forehead patch, extent of white on secondaries and tertials, and extent of white on outer tail feathers. Females can also be separated with care, but there is more overlap.
Populations of hypoleuca from Iberia and NW Africa are allopatric to all other black-and-white Flycatchers. Following ‘the guidelines’ (Helbig et al. 2002), allopatric taxa should be regarded as separate species if they are fully diagnosable in each of several discrete or continuously varying characters related to different functional contexts or DNA sequences, and if the sum of the character differences corresponds with or exceeds that seen in related species that coexist in sympatry. The Spanish form (iberiae) has a larger white forehead than the nominate race, and there is more white in the wings than in populations from further north. Birds from the Atlas Mountains (speculigera) have the greater coverts completely white, but with much less white in the outer tail feathers than in hypoleuca. The white forehead is more extensive in speculigera than in any other forms of hypoleuca. Speculigera is probably diagnosably distinct from iberiae on size of forehead patch. In many ways, speculigera is closer to albicollis, apart from complete neck collar in latter.
Morphology: Adult males from the four taxa seem to be diagnosably distinct, using a combination of characters – mantle colour, size of forehead patch, white edging to tail feathers, rump colour and presence of neck collar.
Several recent papers report upon the molecular genetics and morphology of this taxon (refs).
Molecular data: c3000 base pairs of DNA sequence were obtained from the mitochondrial genome. Genetic distances were computed as shown in the Table. The bigger the number, the more different are the birds. Figures along the diagonal relate to variation among individuals within a taxon.
Atlas Collared Pied (C/N) Pied (Spain) Semi-collared
Atlas 0.19 2.94 3.40 3.33 4.12
Collared 0.12 2.89 2.83 4.02
Pied (Czech/Norway) 0.17 0.49 4.45
Pied (Spain) 0.04 4.38
Semi-collared 0.39
There are several points to note:
First, ignoring for the moment the Atlas birds, the genetic distance between Spanish and Czech Pied Flycatchers (in green) is more similar to that within species (in blue) than between species (in red). This indicates that, despite the plumage differences, Czech and Iberian Pied Flycatchers are conspecific.
Second, Semi-collared is genetically more different from the rest. This indicates that Semi-collared is probably the oldest form.
Third, birds from the Atlas Mountains are more different from Pied Flycatchers than Collareds.
Molecular phylogeny
These data indicate four distinct groups (hypoleuca, albicollis, semitorquata and speculigera). The order of branching in a phylogenetic reconstruction of these data (Fig.) suggests that semitorquata evolved first, and the other three more or less simultaneously. Semi-collared and Pied Flycatchers from widely different areas cluster together in the reconstruction.
Other molecular data
Nuclear sequences: Approximately 3800 bp were sequenced from several different nuclear sites. These confirm the branching order revealed by the mitochondrial data, albeit with lower levels of base-pair divergence. However, this is not atypical of nuclear sequences, and there are fixed differences between the taxa.
Microsatellites: These data are not directly relevant to the status of speculigera since this taxon is not included in the analysis. However, Iberian birds are included in the hypoleuca data, and show a clear separation from albicollis.
Recommendation: The genetic distance between speculigera and both hypoleuca and albicollis is similar to that between the latter themselves. Speculigera is as different from semitorquata as are both hypoleuca and albicollis. Adult males are diagnosably distinct morphologically. If albicollis is regarded as a distinct species, then speculigera must be as well.
It is recommended that the population of black-and-white flycatchers breeding in the Atlas Mountains and adjacent areas of NW Africa is treated as a separate species Ficedula speculigera, the Atlas Flycatcher."
Eduardo