Using bioacoustic data to test species limits in an Indo-Pacific island radiation ofMacropygiacuckoo doves

Abstract

The characterization of species limits and diversification patterns across the geographically complex Indo-Pacific region has presented biogeographers and evolutionary biologists with great challenges. In the present study, we investigated the brown cuckoo dove (Macropygia amboinensis s.l.) species complex, whose distribution spans this entire region. We analyzed whether bioacoustic data are congruent with previous plumage-based classifications and whether glacial land bridges have impacted bioacoustic diversification in these doves. Using an unusually large vocal dataset of > 300 recordings from over 30 islands and 24 taxa, we analyzed 29 bioacoustic frequency and temporal parameters and tested for a correlation between geographical and bioacoustic distances. We found a weak correlation between geographical and bioacoustic distances. We identified numerous lineages that are bioacoustically distinct and proposed their elevation to the species level, leading to a doubling of the number of species in this complex and indicating a high proportion of cryptic species-level diversity that has previously gone unrecognized.

Full Issue

“…This is BROWN CUCKOO-DOVE Macropygia amboinensis Beehler & Pratt (2016) subsumed all New Guinean subspecies east of the Bird's Neck within M. a. cinereiceps. Simultaneously, Ng et al (2016) rearranged the M. amboinensis species complex along bioacoustic lines, proposing that populations with monosyllabic calls in eastern New Guinea be treated as a separate species-Amboyna Cuckoo-Dove M. amboinensis-from those with disyllabic call motifs in the west-Sultan's Cuckoo-Dove M. doreya. Ng et al (2016) noted that the contact zone of M. amboinensis and M. doreya is poorly understood, but mapped the distribution of M. amboinensis in southern New Guinea west to near the PNG / Indonesian border, aligning with other accounts of the range of M. a. goldiei (Baptista et al 1997) which they include within M. amboinensis.…”

Avifauna of the Lake Kutubu Wildlife Management Area, Papua New Guinea

“…Simultaneously, Ng et al (2016) rearranged the M. amboinensis species complex along bioacoustic lines, proposing that populations with monosyllabic calls in eastern New Guinea be treated as a separate species-Amboyna Cuckoo-Dove M. amboinensis-from those with disyllabic call motifs in the west-Sultan's Cuckoo-Dove M. doreya. Ng et al (2016) noted that the contact zone of M. amboinensis and M. doreya is poorly understood, but mapped the distribution of M. amboinensis in southern New Guinea west to near the PNG / Indonesian border, aligning with other accounts of the range of M. a. goldiei (Baptista et al 1997) which they include within M. amboinensis. However, birds in the Kikori River basin, including within the Lake Kutubu WMA, have disyllabic calls characteristic of M. doreya.…”

446. Notes on the vocalizations of Plumbeous Pigeon (Patagioenas plumbea)

“…The 5 global groups only partially coincide with the 6 recognized races: Group 1: chapmani and bogotensis in part Group 2: bogotensis in part and pallescens (in part?) Group 3: bogotensis in part Group 4: wallacei Group 5: plumbea and baeri Given that plumage differences are very subtle, it is quite likely that the present taxonomic treatment should be revised, and ultimately it would be an even stronger signal for taxonomic revision if genetic analysis further confirms the groups as defined by vocal differences (although at the other hand vocal analysis of another pigeon complex, in which vocal differences were far more subtle and available recordings far less numerous , has led to the acceptance of several splits by some taxonomic authorities, see Ng et al 2016).…”