Spotted Nutcracker (1 Viewer)

[Richard Klim]

Dohms & Burg (in press). Limited geographic genetic structure detected in a widespread Palearctic corvid, Nucifraga caryocatactes. PeerJ. [abstract] [pdf]

It's a pity that no representatives of the southern hemispila group (or multipunctata) were sampled.

Madge 2009 (HBW 14):

• Nucifraga caryocatactes
• Nucifraga multipunctata

[Large-spotted/Kashmir Nutcracker N (c) multipunctata is recognised as a distinct species by Rasmussen & Anderton 2005/2012, HBW, IOC and eBird/Clements.]

 

[l_raty]

[Large-spotted/Kashmir Nutcracker N (c) multipunctata is recognised as a distinct species by Rasmussen & Anderton 2005/2012, HBW, IOC and eBird/Clements.]

Limited genetic data attributed to multipunctata were produced by Kennedy et al. (2012). Unfortunately, these were sequences of the cytochrome-b and ND2, while phylogeographic studies up to now have used sequences of the control region, making comparison difficult.

(The best I can do is this: Kennedy's sequences differed from sequences of West-European N. c. caryocatactes by 5% (ND2) and 6% (cytb). No access is currently provided to Dohms & Burg's data but, looking at the haplotype network on their Fig.2, the maximum distance between two haplotypes would seem to be 27 steps on a 924 bp seq which means the divergence between two of their sequences should not exceed 3%. The CR evolves faster than both cyt-b and ND2. IOW, for the same level of divergence, CR-based distances are expected to be higher than cyt-b or ND2-based distances. Thus it seems in any case likely that multipunctata is more divergent from the northern populations than these are from each other.)

 

[DMW]

It's a pity that no representatives of the southern hemispila group (or multipunctata) were sampled.

It is indeed. In particular, it would have been interesting to have included samples of the rather distinctive owstoni from Taiwan, and interdicta from SE China.

 

[Richard Klim]

Dohms & Burg 2014

Dohms & Burg (in press). Limited geographic genetic structure detected in a widespread Palearctic corvid, Nucifraga caryocatactes. PeerJ. [abstract] [pdf]

Dohms & Burg 2014. Limited geographic genetic structure detected in a widespread Palearctic corvid, Nucifraga caryocatactes. PeerJ 2: e371. [article] [pdf]

 

[Nutcracker]

Have I been spotted?? :eek!: :-O

Got to disagree with their statement (Discussion, last paragraph) "Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), an important source of food for nutcrackers": it isn't - the important food species are the species in the white pine group with large seeds (Pinus cembra and Pinus peuce in Europe; Pinus sibirica, Pinus koraiensis, Pinus pumila, Pinus armandii and Pinus wallichiana in Asia), and (where these don't occur, as in southern Scandinavia), Hazel Corylus avellana. If Scots Pine had been important, one would have expected Spotted Nutcracker to have a much wider range in Europe, including e.g. Scotland, northern Scandinavia, etc.

 

[Ben Wielstra]

So the Himalayan part of the range is still totally unexplored from the genetics perspective? One subspecies is sometimes even considered specifically distinct I believe. Time for some better sampling!

Edit: I see Richard already noted that, sorry.

 

[Richard Klim]

So the Himalayan part of the range is still totally unexplored from the genetics perspective? One subspecies is sometimes even considered specifically distinct I believe. Time for some better sampling!
Edit: I see Richard already noted that, sorry.

Indeed, Ben. Surely comparative analysis of the two major allopatric groups could be more interesting, but presumably usable samples are not available...?

 

[Ben Wielstra]

I notice multipunctata and caryocatactes are included in the recent Price et al paper in Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7499/abs/nature13272.html A closer look at the sequences should give some idea about genetic divergence.

Taxon cytb nd2 myo odc g3p rag1 Locality
Nucifraga caryocatactes KJ456365 JQ864467 AY395590 KJ455846 KJ455095 KJ456090 Sweden - Uppland
Nucifraga multipunctata JQ864510 JQ864468 - - KJ455096 - Afghanistan - Puktia

 

[l_raty]

Nucifraga multipunctata JQ864510 JQ864468 - - KJ455096 - Afghanistan - Puktia

First two are the Kennedy et al. sequences that I commented in post #2 above.
Price et al. just added the third one, which is a 350bp GAPDH sequence. Only one substitution (not the same) away from each of the two available sequences of caryocatactes. Won't help a lot I fear.

 

[Ben Wielstra]

I see, thanks.

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Jordi de Raad, Martin Päckert, Martin Irestedt, Axel Janke, Alexey P. Kryukov, Jochen Martens, Yaroslav A. Red’kin, Yuehua Sun, Till Töpfer, Matthias Schleuning, Eike Lena Neuschulz, and Maria A. Nilsson (2022) Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird [Nucifraga]. Communications Biology 5: 429. published 9 May 2022
Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird - Communications Biology

Abstract
Bird-mediated seed dispersal is crucial for the regeneration and viability of ecosystems, often resulting in complex mutualistic species networks. Yet, how this mutualism drives the evolution of seed dispersing birds is still poorly understood. In the present study we combine whole genome re-sequencing analyses and morphometric data to assess the evolutionary processes that shaped the diversification of the Eurasian nutcracker (Nucifraga), a seed disperser known for its mutualism with pines (Pinus). Our results show that the divergence and phylogeographic patterns of nutcrackers resemble those of other non-mutualistic passerine birds and suggest that their early diversification was shaped by similar biogeographic and climatic processes. The limited variation in foraging traits indicates that local adaptation to pines likely played a minor role. Our study shows that close mutualistic relationships between bird and plant species might not necessarily act as a primary driver of evolution and diversification in resource-specialized birds.

 

[gusasp]

Jordi de Raad, Martin Päckert, Martin Irestedt, Axel Janke, Alexey P. Kryukov, Jochen Martens, Yaroslav A. Red’kin, Yuehua Sun, Till Töpfer, Matthias Schleuning, Eike Lena Neuschulz, and Maria A. Nilsson (2022) Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird [Nucifraga]. Communications Biology 5: 429. published 9 May 2022
Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird - Communications Biology

Abstract
Bird-mediated seed dispersal is crucial for the regeneration and viability of ecosystems, often resulting in complex mutualistic species networks. Yet, how this mutualism drives the evolution of seed dispersing birds is still poorly understood. In the present study we combine whole genome re-sequencing analyses and morphometric data to assess the evolutionary processes that shaped the diversification of the Eurasian nutcracker (Nucifraga), a seed disperser known for its mutualism with pines (Pinus). Our results show that the divergence and phylogeographic patterns of nutcrackers resemble those of other non-mutualistic passerine birds and suggest that their early diversification was shaped by similar biogeographic and climatic processes. The limited variation in foraging traits indicates that local adaptation to pines likely played a minor role. Our study shows that close mutualistic relationships between bird and plant species might not necessarily act as a primary driver of evolution and diversification in resource-specialized birds.

Three species it is!

"Our data supports three species-level taxa of Eurasian nutcrackers in accordance with previous classifications recognizing the southern group as its own species N. hemispila, warranting a taxonomic revision. Divergence time estimates placed the deepest divergences of the Eurasian nutcrackers at 2.32 Ma, followed by a second split around 1.87 Ma. However, our analyses could not fully resolve the phylogenetic relationship between the three lineages, most likely due to the short time span between the two speciation events which resulted in high levels of incomplete lineage sorting"

 

[Andy Adcock]

Three species it is!

"Our data supports three species-level taxa of Eurasian nutcrackers in accordance with previous classifications recognizing the southern group as its own species N. hemispila, warranting a taxonomic revision. Divergence time estimates placed the deepest divergences of the Eurasian nutcrackers at 2.32 Ma, followed by a second split around 1.87 Ma. However, our analyses could not fully resolve the phylogenetic relationship between the three lineages, most likely due to the short time span between the two speciation events which resulted in high levels of incomplete lineage sorting"

IOC already recognises two, ( 'Northern') Nutcracker N.Caryocatctes and Kashmir N. multipunctata.

The Northern and Southern groups have been referred to as Thick and Thin billed respectively in the past though I don't know how reliable a field characteristic this is?

 

[gusasp]

IOC already recognises two, ( 'Northern') Nutcracker N.Caryocatctes and Kashmir N. multipunctata.

The Northern and Southern groups have been referred to as Thick and Thin billed respectively in the past though I don't know how reliable a field characteristic this is?

Nope, it’s not a division between thick- and thin-billed, but rather northern Palearctic birds vs. mostly Oriental ones (hemispila group, in Himalayas and China), i.e. along the same lines as BLI’s previous split “Southern Nutcracker”. The thickness of the bill is phylogenetically insignificant.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Nope, it’s not a division between thick- and thin-billed, but rather northern Palearctic birds and mostly Oriental ones (hemispila group, in Himalayas and China). The thickness of the bill is phylogenetically insignificant.

So they'd be Eastern and Western rather than Northern and Southern?

Surely the bill is indicative to some degree, must have developed according to diet?

Have they made an error in the geographical illustration, they have Caryocactes illustrated for both Norther and Southern groups?

 

[Peter Boesman]

A thorough study that brings support for the BLI treatment. The latter interestingly was also based on a brief analysis of voice (see Birds of the World), which found two vocal groups: fast rattling northern birds and slow rattling southern birds.

The power of vocal analysis

 

[l_raty]

So they'd be Eastern and Western rather than Northern and Southern?

No. The southern group is made of four subspecies -- three (hemispila, macella, interdicta) of these occupy together a continuous range that starts in the Himalayas and extends north-eastwards across China roughly to the Beiging region; the last one is the isolated owstoni of Taiwan. The populations of far NE China, Korea, Japan, and far E Russia (E to Kamchatka), on the other hand, belong to the same (northern) group as those of Europe. In other words, although the southern group exists only in the east, it does not include the easternmost populations of the complex.

"Thick-billed" and "thin-billed" have been mostly used to refer to the two races that occur in Europe -- respectively nominate caryocatactes, which breeds in Europe, and macrorhynchos, which is an accidental/irruptive visitor to Europe from its breeding grounds in Asian Russia. These both belong to the northern group.

As Peter says, the 3-way split was already accepted by Birdlife in 2016 based on morphology and voice (with the three species called Northern, Southern and Large-spotted).

Southern Nutcrackers have thinner and more restricted spotting, mainly confined to the head, upper mantle and breast (leaving the lower mantle, and the rest of the underparts uniform brown or nearly so), and a proportionately longer tail with more extensive white sides, but no white tips to the middle feathers. This is an owstoni (Taiwan, Feb 2012):

​

 

[johnallcock]

So they'd be Eastern and Western rather than Northern and Southern?

Surely the bill is indicative to some degree, must have developed according to diet?

Have they made an error in the geographical illustration, they have Caryocactes illustrated for both Norther and Southern groups?

No error in the illustration I think. The two geographical groups are (currently) treated as part of N. caryocatactes, so they illustrate N. caryocatactes (Northern) and N. caryocatactes (Southern) as illustrations of the two groups. This is consistent with the way they are mentioned in other figures and in the text.