Percy FitzPatrick Institute, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Sep;64(3):633-44. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.05.022. Epub 2012 Jun 1.
The recent, rapid radiation of Zosteropidae, coupled with their high levels of colonizing ability and phenotypic diversity, makes species delimitation within this family problematic. Given these problems, challenges to establish the mechanisms driving diversity and speciation within this group have arisen. Four morphologically distinct southern African Zosterops taxa, with a contentious taxonomic past, provide such a challenge. Here, supplemented with morphological and environmental analytical techniques, a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers were analyzed using Bayesian and Likelihood methods to determine their speciation patterns and to establish the phylogenetic relationships of these four morphologically diverse southern African Zosterops taxa. Nearly all individuals were phenotypically diagnosable, even those individuals collected in areas of contact between taxa. Localities where two or more taxa co-occur appear to possess intermediate environmental characteristics. Initial Bayesian and Likelihood mitochondrial DNA analyses and Bayesian structure analyses of the combined nuclear markers indicated levels of hybridization in areas of sympatry. A combined mtDNA and nuclear DNA analysis and a species tree analysis (with hybrids excluded) placed Z. pallidus as sister to the other southern African taxa, with Z. senegalensis the putative sister taxon to a clade comprising Z. capensis and Z. virens. The grouping of taxon-specific sampling localities and the apparent intermediate nature of birds from areas of sympatry points toward an influence of habitat type and the associated climatic conditions in driving Zosterops diversification in southern Africa.
近年来，织雀科迅速辐射进化，加之其具有很强的殖民能力和表型多样性，使得该科内的物种界定成为一个难题。鉴于这些问题，对于建立驱动该类群多样性和物种形成机制的挑战也随之而来。四个形态上截然不同的南部非洲织雀类群具有有争议的分类历史，这为我们提供了这样的挑战。在这里，我们结合形态学和环境分析技术，使用贝叶斯和似然法分析了线粒体和核标记的组合，以确定它们的物种形成模式，并建立这四个形态多样的南部非洲织雀类群的系统发育关系。几乎所有个体都具有可形态学诊断的特征，即使是在种间接触地区收集的个体也是如此。两个或更多类群共存的地点似乎具有中间环境特征。最初的贝叶斯和似然线粒体 DNA 分析以及核标记的贝叶斯结构分析表明，在同域地区存在杂交水平。综合 mtDNA 和核 DNA 分析以及物种树分析（排除杂种）将苍白织雀（Zosterops pallidus）置于其他南部非洲类群的姐妹位置，塞内加尔织雀（Zosterops senegalensis）则是包含海角织雀（Zosterops capensis）和绿喉织雀（Zosterops virens）的类群的假定姐妹分类群。分类群特异性采样地点的分组以及同域地区鸟类的中间性质表明，栖息地类型和相关气候条件对南部非洲织雀的多样化具有影响。
