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1 August 2009 Colonization of South America from Caribbean Islands Confirmed by Molecular Phylogeny with Increased Taxon Sampling
Rachel J. Sturge, Frode Jacobsen, Bryan B. Rosensteel, Richie J. Neale, Kevin E. Omland
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Abstract

A previous phylogeny of New World orioles (Icterus) suggested a possible example of island-to-mainland colonization. Using two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and ND2), that study showed that 43 of the recognized species/ subspecies are divided into three clades (A, B, C). Because of a lack of fresh tissue, however, two key taxa—the South American Orange-crowned Oriole (I. auricapillus) and the Caribbean Hispaniola Oriole (I. dominicensis dominicensis)—were missing from that analysis. To complete the phylogeny, we sequenced both genes for these taxa and reconstructed a well-supported phylogeny via parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses. The addition of I. d. dominicensis to the phylogeny confirms that the Greater Antillean Oriole (I. dominicensis) is polyphyletic, and taxonomic revision of this species complex is warranted. Also, the placement of I. auricapillus and I. d. dominicensis within clade A has important implications for biogeography. The revised phylogeny implies that clade A orioles colonized mainland South America from Caribbean islands. Orioles thus provide a striking example of reverse colonization that contradicts the traditional assumption in island biogeography of mainland-to-island colonization.

© 2009 by The Cooper Ornithological Society. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp.
Rachel J. Sturge, Frode Jacobsen, Bryan B. Rosensteel, Richie J. Neale, and Kevin E. Omland "Colonization of South America from Caribbean Islands Confirmed by Molecular Phylogeny with Increased Taxon Sampling," The Condor 111(3), 575-579, (1 August 2009). https://doi.org/10.1525/cond.2009.080048
Received: 1 October 2008; Accepted: 1 April 2009; Published: 1 August 2009
KEYWORDS
cytochrome b
Icterus
island biogeography
mtDNA
Nd2
phylogeny
polyphyly
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