Parrot Evolution and Paleogeographical Events: Mitochondrial DNA Evidence

Abstract

*Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biocieˆncias–Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil; and †Department ofZoology, University of Leicester, Leicester, EnglandWe sequenced 1,771 bp of three mitochondrial genes (12S rDNA, 16S rDNA, and cytochrome b) of nine NewWorld parrot genera (Amazona aestiva, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, Ara ararauna, Aratinga aurea, Cyanopsittaspixii, Deroptyus accipitrinus, Guaruba guarouba, Pionus menstruus, and Pyrrhura picta) and compared them withthe corresponding sequence of Australian parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus). Phylogenetic analyses (maximumparsimony and maximum likelihood) showed that the Neotropical species we studied constitute two monophyleticgroups: the long-tailed and the short-tailed species. The separation within the long-tailed species could be assignedto the late Oligocene–early Miocene, when paleoenvironmental changes might have influenced this radiation. Thelong-tailed Neotropical and Australasian species diverged during the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary, when SouthAmerica and Australia were moving away from Antarctica (Gondwanaland fission). We also compared our datawith the cytochrome b sequences of seven different genera of Australasian parrots obtained by other investigators,and these comparisons also support the independent evolution of the Neotropical and Australasian species. Analysesperformed with 567 bp of partial sequences of 12S rDNA and cytochrome b did not support or refute the hypothesisof monophyly of the Neotropical parrots with respect to an African species whose sequences were available.However, this analysis supported the view that the divergence between Neotropical short- and long-tailed taxa wasolder than the Oligocene–Miocene divergence among the long-tailed genera.