Mitochondrial phylogenetics of the goshawkAccipiter[gentilis] superspecies

Abstract

The Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis is a medium‐sized bird of prey inhabiting boreal and temperate forests. It has a Holarctic distribution with 10 recognized subspecies. Traditionally, it has been placed within the Accipiter [gentilis] superspecies, together with Henst's Goshawk A. henstii, the Black Sparrowhawk A. melanoleucus, and Meyer's Goshawk A. meyerianus. While those four taxa are geographically separated from each other, hence referred to as allospecies, their phylogenetic relationships are still unresolved. In the present study, we performed phylogenetic analyses on the Accipiter [gentilis] superspecies, including all recognized subspecies of all four allospecies, using partial sequences of two marker loci of the mitochondrial genome, the control region and the cytochrome b gene. We found a deep split within A. gentilis into two monophyletic groups, a Nearctic clade (three subspecies) and a Palearctic clade (seven subspecies). The Palearctic clade is closely related to A. meyerianus, and together these two were more closely related to the other Old World taxa A. henstii and A. melanoleucus, which in turn were reciprocally monophyletic sister species. As a consequence, A. gentilis as usually conceived (including all Holarctic subspecies) was non‐monophyletic. We found a strong genetic homogeneity within Palearctic A. gentilis despite the fact that it comprises seven subspecies distributed from the Atlantic coast in Western Europe to Eastern Siberia. Relationships between the four clades could not be resolved unambiguously. Our results, if confirmed by more integrative data, would imply a taxonomic revision of Nearctic A. gentilis into a separate allospecies, Accipiter [gentilis] atricapillus.

Multigenerational pedigree analysis of wild individually marked black sparrowhawks suggests that dark plumage coloration is a dominant autosomal trait

“…A weakness of observational inheritance data is that parentage can only be confirmed with certainty with genetic data. However, extra‐pair paternity is a rare phenomenon in socially monogamous raptors with proportions ranging from 1.3% in the closely related northern goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis , Gavin et al ., 1998, Rutz, 2005, Kunz et al ., 2019) to 0% in merlin ( Falco columbarius , Warkentin et al ., 1994) to 3–11.2% in American kestrels ( Falco sparverius , Villarroel, Bird & Kuhnlein, 1998). In Cooper's hawks ( Accipiter cooperii ), extra‐pair paternity can be considered as high as 19.3% of all nestlings (Rosenfield et al ., 2015), but such high levels of extra‐pair paternity seem to be an exception.…”

The taxonomic status of Palearctic and Nearctic populations of northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis (Aves, Accipitridae): New evidence from vocalisations

“…[gentilis] superspecies (sensu Kunz et al 2019) includes two additional species, A. meyerianus and A. melanoleucus. However, no recordings of the 'chattering-type' calls of the A. meyerianus and too few (n=2) of A. melanoleucus were available for study.…”

“…Using genomic DNA sequences, Geraldes et al (2019) found a deep divergence between Palearctic and Nearctic populations of A. gentilis. In a detailed mitochondrial DNA study, Kunz et al (2019) showed that Nearctic A. g. atricapillus, A. g. laingi and A. g. apache (hereafter atricapillus-group) and the Palearctic subspecies of A. gentilis (hereafter gentilis-group) formed reciprocally monophyletic groups which were not sister groups because the gentilis-group was closer to Meyer's goshawk A. meyerianus, Henst's goshawk A. henstii and A. melanoleucus than to the atricapillus-group. Kunz et al (2019) suggested that species status may be appropriate for the atricapillus-group but noted that this is best considered in an integrative context, i.e.…”

The genome sequence of the northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

“…The considerable morphological variation particularly within A. gentilis has resulted in the acknowledgement of 10 subspecies ( Del Hoyo & Collar, 2015 ; Dickson & Remsen, 2013 ), with the nominate European subspecies, A. gentilis gentilis found across Europe, except for the Iberian Peninsula, southern Italy, and Greece, and extending eastwards to the Carpathians and part of Russia. However, mitochondrial phylogenetic analyses suggest two monophyletic groups within the species, a Neartcic clade and a Palearctic clade ( Kunz et al ., 2019 ).…”