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| Biogeography and macroevolutionary dynamics of Coraciiformes.
in McCullough, Moyle, Smith & Andersen, 2019.
Artwork by Madison E. Mayfield. twitter.com/Jenna_Merle
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Abstract
The evolution of pantropically distributed clades has puzzled palaeo- and neontologists for decades regarding the different hypotheses about where they originated. In this study, we explored how a pantropical distribution arose in a diverse clade with a rich fossil history: the avian order Coraciiformes. This group has played a central role in the debate of the biogeographical history of Neoaves. However, the order lacked a coherent species tree to inform study of its evolutionary dynamics. Here, we present the first complete species tree of Coraciiformes, produced with 4858 ultraconserved elements, which supports two clades: (1) Old World-restricted bee-eaters, rollers and ground-rollers; and (2) New World todies and motmots, and cosmopolitan kingfishers. Our results indicated two pulses of diversification: (1) major lineages of Coraciiformes arose in Laurasia approximately 57 Ma, followed by independent dispersals into equatorial regions, possibly due to tracking tropical habitat into the lower latitudes—the Coracii (Coraciidae + Brachypteraciidae) into the Afrotropics, bee-eaters throughout the Old World tropics, and kingfishers into the Australasian tropics; and (2) diversification of genera in the tropics during the Miocene and Pliocene. Our study supports the important role of Laurasia as the geographical origin of a major pantropical lineage and provides a new framework for comparative analyses in this charismatic bird radiation.
Keywords: target capture, Coraciiavian systematics, North American gateway hypothesis, macroevolutionary dynamics, historical biogeography
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| Figure 1. Biogeography and macroevolutionary dynamics of Coraciiformes. (a) Time-calibrated, maximum clade credibility tree showing species-level relationships of Coraciiformes based on 500 ultraconserved elements, fossil calibrations and maximum-likelihood topology constraints. Node ages were estimated in BEAST with three fossil calibrations (electronic supplementary material, table S2), indicated by daggers (†), and two secondary calibrations indicated by asterisks (*). Representative taxa are illustrated (from top to bottom): pitta-like ground-roller (Atelornis pittoides); Oriental dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis); rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus); Cuban tody (Todus multicolor); rufous motmot (Baryphthgenus martii); north Philippine dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx melanurus); belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon); and white-breasted kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis). Biogeographical information is summarized from the full results (see electronic supplementary material, figure S9). Branch colours represent the most recent ancestral node’s range reconstruction and correspond to the following areas on the map: (a) Nearctic, (b) Caribbean islands, (c) South America, (d) Palaearctic, (e) Africa and Madagascar, (f ) Indomalaya, (g) Wallacea and the Philippines, (h) New Guinea and Australia and (i) Oceania. Grey branches indicate a broad distribution of three or more areas. (b) Results from macroevolutionary rate analysis in BAMM. The phylorate plot depicts an inferred core rate shift in Todiramphus. Clade-specific rate through time plots are shown for (a) all Coraciiformes, (b) all Todiramphus and (c) the background rate of Coraciiformes excluding Todiramphus with mean evolutionary rates (λ), respectively.
Original artwork by Madison E. Mayfield.
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Jenna M. McCullough, Robert G. Moyle, Brian T. Smith and Michael J. Andersen. 2019. A Laurasian Origin for A Pantropical Bird Radiation is Supported by Genomic and Fossil Data (Aves: Coraciiformes). Proc. R. Soc. B. 286: 20190122. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.0122