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Anatidae (1 Viewer)

Don't tell me - they are actually quite distantly related but the trees are confused by massive introgression from nymphomaniac Mallards.

John
 
Mito-nuclear discord in Holarctic ducks

Richard Klim said:
Forthcoming...
Peters, Winker, Millam, Lavretsky, Kulikova, Wilson, Zhuravlev & McCracken (in review). Mito-nuclear discord in six congeneric lineages of Holarctic ducks (genus Anas).
Click to expand...
Peters, Winker, Millam, Lavretsky, Kulikova, Wilson, Zhuravlev & McCracken (in press). Mito-nuclear discord in six congeneric lineages of Holarctic ducks (genus Anas). Mol Ecol. [abstract] [supp info]
 
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If anyone has access: do they make any recommendations regarding wigeon or green winged teal?

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
If anyone has access: do they make any recommendations regarding wigeon or green winged teal?
Click to expand...

Peters et al. 2014 said:
Among these six lineages, the wigeon and teal have the most similar population histories. Both lineages have relatively deep mtDNA divergences and diagnosable plumage differences between OW and NW. Although nuDNA differentiation is weak, allelic frequency differences are sufficient for assigning individuals to their respective populations in most cases (Fig. 5E,F). Peters et al. (2012b) argued that teal have likely experienced a long history of parapatric divergence, and that male-mediated gene flow has been sufficient to prevent the completion of speciation despite the deep mtDNA divergence. This scenario seems to fit the wigeon as well. Although Eurasian and American wigeons are recognized as separate species on the basis of morphology, male-mediated gene flow likely inhibits broad-scale genomic differentiation and the evolution of strong isolating mechanisms. The Eurasian wigeon has become more common on the Pacific coast of North America during winter (Edgell 1984), and hybridization with American wigeon might be increasing. This species pair provides an excellent opportunity for studying mechanisms of speciation and factors contributing to mito-nuclear discord
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Basically, it doesn't look good for maintaining Wigeon as separate species but not the Green-winged Teal. The mitochondrial divergence between American and Eurasian Wigeon is actually less than that in the Green-winged Teal, despite stronger plumage divergence between the wigeons. Both Wigeon and Teal have very low nuclear divergence. The authors don't seem to make specific taxonomic recommendations, at least based on quickly skimming the article. If anyone wants a pdf, pm me.

~ Nick
 
"The authors don't seem to make specific taxonomic recommendations"

Right, I am still trying to figure out what is a species. Therefore, I'm always a hesitant to make any taxonomic recommendations (I think there are better minds than mine to work that out). I will say that the teal and wigeon have about the same overall levels of genetic differentiation between Eurasia and North America, and that they are more different than Eurasian and North American populations of mallard, shoveler, and pintail. Does that make them different species? Not sure. On the other hand, there is a fair bit of moving genes between continents for both species (i.e., plenty of hybridization), probably as a result of males moving large distances. Does that mean one species of teal and one species of wigeon? Not sure. I would love to hear what others think.
 
I'll also add that I am working on a follow-up paper showing that some nuclear genes seem to be consistent with species level differences for both teal and wigeon (as well as mallard). This group is complicated, to say the least.
 
I cannot give the answer to your question, but in deciding what is a species within ducks, it must be worth remembering that just about any duck will breed with any duck in captivity, and that a large number of hybrids have been found in the wild. Therefore, the tolerance for hybridization between two related species has to be relatively high in this group.

Niels
 
Shovelers

Nelson, McCracken & Peters. Divergence and gene flow in a cosmopolitan lineage of dabbling ducks. Evolution 2014. (p355)
The shovelers (genus Anas) are a globally distributed dabbling duck lineage comprising four species, each found on a different continent. Although these species are widely allopatric, high dispersal abilities potentially make gene flow likely. We obtained samples from the Holarctic northern shoveler (Anas clypeata; N = 50), African Cape shoveler (A. smithii; N = 28), South American red shoveler (A. platalea; N = 23), and Australasian shoveler (A. rhynchotis; N = 13) from widely distributed locations throughout their respective ranges. We sequenced five nuclear introns and the mitochondrial control region to examine phylogenetic relationships and to test for gene flow. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from mitochondrial (mt) DNA and nuclear (nu) DNA were concordant, recovering northern and Australasian shovelers as sister taxa and the red shoveler as the basal lineage. Coalescent analyses revealed significant evidence of gene flow from the northern shoveler into the Australasian shoveler and perhaps into the Cape shoveler, but not into northern or red shoveler. We conclude that the migratory behavior of northern species, relative to the sedentary behavior of the southern species, facilitates gene flow, and that this species complex is an excellent candidate for divergence with gene flow models of speciation.
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Andean Goose

Richard Klim said:
Bulgarella, Kopuchian, di Giacomo, Matus, Blank, Wilson & McCracken (in press). Molecular phylogeny of the South American sheldgeese with implications for conservation of Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and continental populations of the Ruddy-headed Goose Chloephaga rubidiceps and Upland Goose C. picta. BCI. [abstract]
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AOU-SACC Proposal #637 (Jaramillo, Jul 2014): Transfer Chloephaga melanoptera to Neochen.

Bulgarella et al 2014. BCI 24(1): 59–71. [pdf]

John Boyd (TiF) instead moved it to Oressochen (monospecific):
www.jboyd.net/Taxo/List1.html#anatidae
www.jboyd.net/Taxo/Tadornini.pdf
 
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Mandarin Duck & Ruddy Shelduck

Liu, Zhou, Li & Zhang 2014. The complete mitochondrial genome of Aix galericulata and Tadorna ferruginea: bearings on their phylogenetic position in the Anseriformes. PLoS ONE 9(11): e109701. [article] [pdf]
 

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