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The origin of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi (Aves : Rallidae)

Stervander, Martin LU ; Ryan, Peter G. ; Melo, Martim and Hansson, Bengt LU orcid (2019) In Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 130. p.92-98
Abstract

Rails (Aves: Rallidae) are renowned for their extreme dispersal capability, which has given rise to numerous island lineages. Many insular species lost the ability to fly as a response to release from predator pressure—a feature causing rapid extinction when humans subsequently introduced mammals. The world's smallest extant flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi, is endemic to Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha archipelago, in the central South Atlantic Ocean. It is placed in a monotypic genus, but its taxonomic affinity, as well as geographic origin, are disputed. Contrary to its suggested Old World origin, we demonstrate that the Inaccessible Island Rail is nested within the mainly South American... (More)

Rails (Aves: Rallidae) are renowned for their extreme dispersal capability, which has given rise to numerous island lineages. Many insular species lost the ability to fly as a response to release from predator pressure—a feature causing rapid extinction when humans subsequently introduced mammals. The world's smallest extant flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi, is endemic to Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha archipelago, in the central South Atlantic Ocean. It is placed in a monotypic genus, but its taxonomic affinity, as well as geographic origin, are disputed. Contrary to its suggested Old World origin, we demonstrate that the Inaccessible Island Rail is nested within the mainly South American ‘Laterallus clade’ and that it colonized ≥3 million-year-old Inaccessible Island from South America c. 1.5 million years ago. The taxonomy of rails has traditionally been based on morphology, and convergent evolution has caused many cases of misclassification. We suggest a re-classification within the ‘Laterallus clade’ and call for extended coverage of taxon sampling for DNA sequencing.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Colonization, Oceanic islands, Phylogeny, Phylogeography, Taxonomy
in
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
volume
130
pages
7 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:30321695
  • scopus:85055052821
ISSN
1055-7903
DOI
10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0f93a454-330d-438a-8cf2-ba9208c03537
date added to LUP
2018-10-26 13:41:09
date last changed
2025-04-30 02:48:23
@article{0f93a454-330d-438a-8cf2-ba9208c03537,
  abstract     = {{<p>Rails (Aves: Rallidae) are renowned for their extreme dispersal capability, which has given rise to numerous island lineages. Many insular species lost the ability to fly as a response to release from predator pressure—a feature causing rapid extinction when humans subsequently introduced mammals. The world's smallest extant flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi, is endemic to Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha archipelago, in the central South Atlantic Ocean. It is placed in a monotypic genus, but its taxonomic affinity, as well as geographic origin, are disputed. Contrary to its suggested Old World origin, we demonstrate that the Inaccessible Island Rail is nested within the mainly South American ‘Laterallus clade’ and that it colonized ≥3 million-year-old Inaccessible Island from South America c. 1.5 million years ago. The taxonomy of rails has traditionally been based on morphology, and convergent evolution has caused many cases of misclassification. We suggest a re-classification within the ‘Laterallus clade’ and call for extended coverage of taxon sampling for DNA sequencing.</p>}},
  author       = {{Stervander, Martin and Ryan, Peter G. and Melo, Martim and Hansson, Bengt}},
  issn         = {{1055-7903}},
  keywords     = {{Colonization; Oceanic islands; Phylogeny; Phylogeography; Taxonomy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{92--98}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution}},
  title        = {{The origin of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi (Aves : Rallidae)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007}},
  volume       = {{130}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}