Tereza Senfeld, Thomas J. Shannon, Hein Van Grouw, Dane M. Paijmans, Erika S. Tavares, Allan J. Baker, Alexander C. Lees & J.Martin Collinson. Taxonomic status of the extinct Canary Islands Oystercatcher
Haematopus meadewaldoi. Ibis, First published: 26 August 2019
https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12778
Abstract:
Mitochondrial genes were sequenced from four specimens of the extinct Canary Islands Oystercatcher Haematopus meadewaldoi and compared to African Oystercatcher H. moquini, Eurasian Oystercatcher H. ostralegus, and an old unidentified extralimital ‘black’ oystercatcher specimen from The Gambia. At these loci, H. meadewaldoi was approximately 99.65% identical to multiple Eurasian Oystercatcher samples and in phylogenetic trees fell within the range of genetic variation observed in that species. The mystery Gambian bird was resolved as an extralimital H. moquini. We conclude that H. meadewaldoi was most likely a recently diverged melanistic morph or subspecies of H. ostralegus, though further genomic studies will be required to determine if there has been a period of isolation followed by introgression.