Search

International audience; We use multilocus molecular data and species distribution modelling to investigate the phylogenetics and the phylogeography of the White‐backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos), a bird species widely distributed over the entire Palaearctic. Our phylogenetic results reveal three well‐supported clades within D. leucotos: the Chinese endemic subspecies (tangi, insularis), the northerly distributed subspecies (leucotos, uralensis) and the four poorly genetically differentiated Japanese subspecies (subcirris, stejnegeri, namiyei, owstoni), and the south‐western Palaearctic lilfordi subspecies. According to our results, the Amami Woodpecker, endemic to Amami Oshima Island (Ryukyu archipelago, Japan) sometimes treated as full species Dendrocopos owstoni, does not deserve a species‐level status. Based on the mitochondrial phylogeographic results, the Japanese archipelago was recently colonized only once by D. leucotos from eastern Eurasia. Our results suggest a split between the leucotos and lilfordi lineages that dates back to mid‐Pleistocene (around 0.6 Mya) with likely no gene flow between these two subspecies since then. Our results thus do not support a phylogeographic pattern in which Central Europe and Northern Europe were recolonized from one or several southern glacial refugia where lilfordi populations persisted through several Pleistocene glacial periods. Spatial variation in mitochondrial diversity across leucotos/uralensis populations and niche ecological modelling suggest a possible eastward population expansion from a unique glacial refugium likely located in Central Europe. Molecular species delimitation methods, gene flow analyses and differences in adult and juvenile plumage indicate that the lilfordi subspecies may warrant to be ranked as a valid phylogenetic species. Further studies are nevertheless needed in the Balkans, where leucotos and lilfordi came recently into contact to measure the effectiveness of reproductive barriers and gene flow.

We revise the taxonomy of the Sylvia cantillans complex, a group of phenotypically distinct warblers with mainly parapatric distributions around a large part of the Mediterranean basin. We redefine the species limits using a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers and we objectively link available names to the genetically defined lineages by genotyping the surviving type specimens. In addition, the study of archival documents clarifies the exact composition of type series and provides further evidence for the identification of lost types. These results support the recognition of three species-level taxa: Moltoni’s warbler, Sylvia subalpina (north-central Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics); the western subalpine warbler, S. iberiae (North Africa, Iberia, southern France and extreme north-west Italy); and the eastern subalpine warbler, S. cantillans, with subspecies S. cantillans cantillans (southern Italy, Sicily) and S. cantillans albistriata (Balkans, Greece, western Turkey). We revise the taxonomy of the Sylvia cantillans complex, a group of phenotypically distinct warblers with mainly parapatric distributions around a large part of the Mediterranean basin. We redefine the species limits using a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers and we objectively link available names to the genetically defined lineages by genotyping the surviving type specimens. In addition, the study of archival documents clarifies the exact composition of type series and provides further evidence for the identification of lost types. These results support the recognition of three species-level taxa: Moltoni’s warbler, Sylvia subalpina (north-central Italy, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics); the western subalpine warbler, S. iberiae (North Africa, Iberia, southern France and extreme northwest Italy); and the eastern subalpine warbler, S. cantillans, with subspecies S. cantillans cantillans (southern Italy, Sicily) and S. cantillans albistriata (Balkans, Greece, western Turkey).

Intermittent incubation in birds is currently interpreted as the result of trade-offs between the needs of the embryo and those of the parents. However, the low nest attendance in some species is still puzzling. We studied the Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola), a tropical burrow nesting shorebird with very low incubation constancy (less than 55%) due to frequent recesses from incubation (on average 5 recesses/h), mostly spent in the colony area without any apparent function. We aimed to test whether such unusual incubation rhythm can be partly explained by the need to scan for approaching predators. Data collected at Dahret Island (Eritrea) between 2006 and 2014 support the antipredatory function of the incubation rhythm: (1) many recesses on the colony surface were so short (50% less than 37 s in the hotter periods) that a thermoregulatory function can be dismissed; (2) adults on the colony surface responded to approaching predators with alarm calls that drove most incubating Crab Plovers to run out of the burrows and to escape in flocks; (3) sound intensity sharply decreased inside burrows, which explains the delayed escape observed for 9% of the incubating birds; (4) the delayed exit when predators were still in the colony area rules out their permanence inside burrows as an alternative antipredatory strategy; (5) after the visit of a predator, adults restarted incubation with very short in-bouts (2 min on average) apparently in order to scan frequently for approaching predators. We discuss how burrow nesting, alarm calls, and the antipredatory reactions of adults (escape into or out of the burrows, flock flight, mobbing) and chicks (escape into burrows) might have favoured colonial breeding in Crab Plovers.

The Danakil Depression in northeastern Africa represents one of the harshest arid environments on Earth, yet two genera of fishes, Danakilia (Cichlidae) and Aphanius (Cyprinodontidae), share its sparse aquatic habitats. The evolutionary history of these fishes is investigated here in the context of genetic, geological and paleoenvironmental information. We collected samples from seven sites and assessed phylogeographic relationships using concatenated COI and cytb mtDNA genes. Danakilia morphospecies show low differentiation at mitochondrial markers, but variation is partitioned between a northern cluster containing D. dinicolai plus three undescribed riverine populations, and a southern cluster including two creek populations of D. franchettii separated by the hypersaline waters of Lake Afrera. Aphanius displayed four genetically distinct clades (A. stiassnyae in Lake Afrera; one distributed across the entire area; one in Lake Abaeded; and one in the Shukoray River), but without clear large-scale geographic structure. However, Danakil Aphanius are clearly differentiated from A. dispar sensu stricto from the Sinai Peninsula. Geological evidence suggests that after the Late Pleistocene closure of the Danakil-Red Sea connection, increased post-glacial groundwater availability caused the formation of a brackish paleo-lake flooding the entire region below the -50 m contour. Fish populations previously isolated in coastal oases during glaciation were able to mix in the paleo-lake. Subsequently, in a more arid phase starting ∼7300 BP, paleo-lake regression isolated fishes in separate drainages, triggering their still ongoing diversification.