Ancient mitochondrial genomes unveil the origins and evolutionary history of New Zealand's enigmatic takahē and moho

dc.citation.issue3
dc.citation.volume33
dc.contributor.authorVerry AJF
dc.contributor.authorMas-Carrió E
dc.contributor.authorGibb GC
dc.contributor.authorDutoit L
dc.contributor.authorRobertson BC
dc.contributor.authorWaters JM
dc.contributor.authorRawlence NJ
dc.contributor.editorGillespie R
dc.coverage.spatialEngland
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-24T19:45:56Z
dc.date.available2024-11-24T19:45:56Z
dc.date.issued2024-02
dc.description.abstractMany avian species endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand were driven to extinction or reduced to relict populations following successive waves of human arrival, due to hunting, habitat destruction and the introduction of mammalian predators. Among the affected species were the large flightless South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) and the moho (North Island takahē; P. mantelli), with the latter rendered extinct and the former reduced to a single relictual population. Little is known about the evolutionary history of these species prior to their decline and/or extinction. Here we sequenced mitochondrial genomes from takahē and moho subfossils (12 takahē and 4 moho) and retrieved comparable sequence data from takahē museum skins (n = 5) and contemporary individuals (n = 17) to examine the phylogeny and recent evolutionary history of these species. Our analyses suggest that prehistoric takahē populations lacked deep phylogeographic structure, in contrast to moho, which exhibited significant spatial genetic structure, albeit based on limited sample sizes (n = 4). Temporal genetic comparisons show that takahē have lost much of their mitochondrial genetic diversity, likely due to a sudden demographic decline soon after human arrival (~750 years ago). Time-calibrated phylogenetic analyses strongly support a sister species relationship between takahē and moho, suggesting these flightless taxa diverged around 1.5 million years ago, following a single colonisation of New Zealand by a flighted Porphyrio ancestor approximately 4 million years ago. This study highlights the utility of palaeogenetic approaches for informing the conservation and systematic understanding of endangered species whose ranges have been severely restricted by anthropogenic impacts.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.edition.editionFebruary 2024
dc.format.paginatione17227-
dc.identifier.author-urlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38018770
dc.identifier.citationVerry AJF, Mas-Carrió E, Gibb GC, Dutoit L, Robertson BC, Waters JM, Rawlence NJ. (2024). Ancient mitochondrial genomes unveil the origins and evolutionary history of New Zealand's enigmatic takahē and moho.. Mol Ecol. 33. 3. (pp. e17227-).
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/mec.17227
dc.identifier.eissn1365-294X
dc.identifier.elements-typejournal-article
dc.identifier.issn0962-1083
dc.identifier.numbere17227
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/72062
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherJohn Wiley and Sons
dc.publisher.urihttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mec.17227
dc.relation.isPartOfMol Ecol
dc.rights(c) 2023 The Author/s
dc.rightsCC BY-NC-ND 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectRallidae
dc.subjectgenetic bottleneck
dc.subjecthuman impact
dc.subjectphylogeny
dc.subjectphylogeography
dc.subjectquaternary
dc.subjectAnimals
dc.subjectBiological Evolution
dc.subjectBirds
dc.subjectDNA, Mitochondrial
dc.subjectGenome, Mitochondrial
dc.subjectMammals
dc.subjectNew Zealand
dc.subjectPhylogeny
dc.titleAncient mitochondrial genomes unveil the origins and evolutionary history of New Zealand's enigmatic takahē and moho
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.elements-id484997
pubs.organisational-groupOther
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