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21 October 2016
Molecular phylogeny, morphology and life-history comparisons within Circus cyaneus reveal the presence of two distinct evolutionary lineages
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Circus cyaneus is a medium-sized bird of prey that is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. There are two currently recognized forms, the Palearctic form C. c. cyaneus (Hen Harrier), and the Nearctic form C. c. hudsonius (Northern Harrier). The forms have recently been split by the British Ornithologists' Union but the American Ornithologists' Union and some other taxonomic committees have not yet made any change. Here we examine the phylogenetic relationship between the two forms using sequence data from multiple nuclear and mitochondrial genes and examine breeding biology, body size, morphology, dispersal and other behaviors.
In order to fully compare cyaneus and hudsonius, we carried out a full literature review, measured museum skins and carried out phylogenetic analysis using a number of different mitochondrial genes and compare our findings to other recent work.
We find that these two allopatric taxa form reciprocally monophyletic groups, show substantial mtDNA sequence divergence, and further differ significantly with respect to body size, plumage characters, breeding biology, dispersal and other behavioral traits.
Based on an array of consistently divergent characteristics, it is suggested that the two forms are best regarded as separate species, Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius).
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Molecular phylogeny, morphology and life-history comparisons within Circus cyaneus reveal the presence of two distinct evolutionary lineages
),
Abstract
Circus cyaneus is a medium-sized bird of prey that is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. There are two currently recognized forms, the Palearctic form C. c. cyaneus (Hen Harrier), and the Nearctic form C. c. hudsonius (Northern Harrier). The forms have recently been split by the British Ornithologists' Union but the American Ornithologists' Union and some other taxonomic committees have not yet made any change. Here we examine the phylogenetic relationship between the two forms using sequence data from multiple nuclear and mitochondrial genes and examine breeding biology, body size, morphology, dispersal and other behaviors.
In order to fully compare cyaneus and hudsonius, we carried out a full literature review, measured museum skins and carried out phylogenetic analysis using a number of different mitochondrial genes and compare our findings to other recent work.
We find that these two allopatric taxa form reciprocally monophyletic groups, show substantial mtDNA sequence divergence, and further differ significantly with respect to body size, plumage characters, breeding biology, dispersal and other behavioral traits.
Based on an array of consistently divergent characteristics, it is suggested that the two forms are best regarded as separate species, Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Jim Patton (MVZ Berkeley) for his aid and advice in sponsoring this research, Eileen Lacey and the late Ned Johnson for their advice and criticism. We would also like to thank: The Burke Museum (University of Washington), Museum of SW Biology (Uni. of New Mexico), Museum of Natural Sciences (LSU), the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum, all of whom kindly provided tissue for this research and to MVZ Berkeley, AMNH New York, The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and the British Museum, Tring, all of whom allowed access to harrier skins for examination, to Alessandro Leidi for advice on statistical methods, to the advice and suggestions of three reviewers for significantly improving the content of the paper and to Simon Richards, Hiyashi Haka, Dirk-Jan Hoek, Julian Hough, Matti Suopajärvi and Peter Blanchard for generously making their photographs available to us.
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