Subspecies of the Thick-Billed Grasswren <i>Amytornis Modestus</i> (Aves-Maluridae)

Black, Andrew

doi:10.1080/03721426.2011.10887148

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Here we interpret the levels of DNA differentiation recorded by and Austin et al (2013) in context with published morphological, biogeographical and ecological features (e.g. Schodde and Mason 1999;Black 2004Black , 2011aBlack et al 2010) to provide a comprehensive species and subspecies level revision of Amytornis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

A re-appraisal of species diversity within the Australian grasswrensAmytornis(Aves: Maluridae)

Christidis

Rheindt

Boles

et al. 2013

Australian Zoologist

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The Australian grasswrens (Amytornis) comprise a genus of cryptically plumaged species inhabiting the arid regions of southern, western, central, and northern Australia. Isolated, fragmented populations characterise the distributional pattern of several species, whereas others appear to show ecophenotypic clinal variation in plumage patterns. These features have made the species-level taxonomy of the genus a matter of ongoing debate. We undertook qualitative considerations of morphological, biogeographical and ecological features in combination with quantitative DNA distance measures from published studies, to provide a comprehensive species level revision of Amytornis. In addition to the ten species recognised by Schodde and Mason (1999) (housei, textilis, goyderi, purnelli, ballarae, merrotsyi, woodwardi, dorotheae, striatus, barbatus), we also recognise as species the following: modestus, rowleyi, oweni and whitei. These fourteen species are placed into four subgenera: Amytornis, Magnamytis, Maluropsis and Cryptamytis subgen. nov. The latter subgenus is erected for A. merrotsyi. The potential impacts that this new taxonomy will have on the conservation status of the various taxa are canvassed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

A re-appraisal of species diversity within the Australian grasswrensAmytornis(Aves: Maluridae)

Christidis

Rheindt

Boles

et al. 2013

Australian Zoologist

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“…Subspecies classifications have a major impact on the allocation of conservation resources (Zink 2004). Both A. m. raglessi and A. m. indulkanna are currently classified as subspecies based on plumage and morphological differences, and a mitochondrial divergence of 1.7% at ND2 (Black 2011;Austin et al 2013). However, these subspecies are also known to have a continuous distribution and mitochondrial paraphyly (Slender et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The endangered thick-billed grasswren (Amytornis modestus, TBGW) is an arid-zone species of the Maluridae family. We adopt the nomenclature of (Black 2011; which describes seven subspecies of TBGW. There are two extinct and five extant subspecies occurring in parts of the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales (Black et al 2011;Black and Gower 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gene flow between two thick-billed grasswren subspecies with low dispersal creates a genomic pattern of isolation-by-distance

Slender

Louter

Myers

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Context In the era of the Anthropocene, habitat loss and environmental change threaten the persistence of many species. Genotyping-By-Sequencing (GBS) is a useful molecular tool for understanding how patterns of gene flow are associated with contemporary habitat distributions that may be affected by environmental change. Two parapatric subspecies of the threatened thick-billed grasswren (TBGW; Amytornis modestus) more frequently occur in different plant communities. As such, a preference for plant community type could reduce subspecific introgression and increase genetic diversity at the parapatric boundary. Aims We aimed to measure gene flow within and among two TBGW subspecies and tested whether divergent genomic markers were associated with plant community type. Methods We sequenced 118 individuals from either of the two TBGW subspecies or in the region of parapatry and identified 7583 SNPs through ddRADseq. Key results We found evidence of asymmetric gene flow and a genomic pattern of isolation-by-distance. There were sixteen genomic outliers correlated with plant community type (regardless of location). Conclusions These findings show that plant community type does not prevent introgression in one subspecies (A. m. raglessi), but low dispersal and habitat heterogeneity could contribute to the maintenance of distinct subspecific morphotypes. Local adaptation in different plant community types could also provide a mechanism for future divergence. Implications We suggest subspecific introgression could increase genetic variation and the adaptive potential of the species, facilitating species persistence under conditions of climate change.

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“…Morphological divergence has been previously described in the TBGW, and was a contributing factor to the current subspecies classification (Black 2011a;Slender et al 2017a). Morphological divergences between the two WGW populations were similar in magnitude to those found between the TBGW populations for some traits (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

A comparative study of two grasswren species reveals strong genetic divergence between a peninsula and mainland population

Vega

Hall

Ridley

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Dispersal patterns dictate genetic population structure, and ultimately population resilience, through maintaining critical ecological processes and genetic diversity. Direct observation of dispersal events is not often possible, but genetic methods offer an alternative method of indirectly measuring dispersal. Here, we use 7 652 genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to evaluate genetic population structure and infer dispersal capabilities of the Western Grasswren (Amytornis textilis textilis; WGW) in Western Australia (n = 118), utilising a sister species, the Thick-billed Grasswren (Amytornis modestus; TBGW) as a comparison dataset (n = 80). We found genetic divergence and low genetic diversity between two populations (Hamelin and Peron) in the WGW, despite evidence of long dispersal distances within populations by females. In addition, the two WGW populations were found to be more genetically divergent than two described subspecies of TBGW, despite the WGW occurring over a smaller spatial scale. By comparing these two grasswren species, our data suggest a narrow strip of land may be acting as a geographic barrier in the WGW, limiting dispersal between a peninsula population to the mainland. We investigate if morphology aligns with genetic divergence, with some estimates of divergence between WGW populations greater than those between subspecies of TBGW. However, confidence intervals were large, preventing definitive conclusions. Our results support the hypothesis that peninsula populations of small, ground-dwelling birds are genetically isolated from adjacent mainland populations. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that the limited gene flow is asymmetrical, with directional dispersal occurring from the bounded peninsula population to the mainland. Our study also highlights how substantial genetic divergence does not necessarily coincide with phenotypic differences.

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Subspecies of the Thick-Billed Grasswren Amytornis Modestus (Aves-Maluridae)

Cited by 9 publications

References 17 publications

A re-appraisal of species diversity within the Australian grasswrensAmytornis(Aves: Maluridae)

A re-appraisal of species diversity within the Australian grasswrensAmytornis(Aves: Maluridae)

Gene flow between two thick-billed grasswren subspecies with low dispersal creates a genomic pattern of isolation-by-distance

A comparative study of two grasswren species reveals strong genetic divergence between a peninsula and mainland population

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