The molecular ecology of the extinct New Zealand Huia.

PloS One
David M LambertCraig D Millar

Abstract

The extinct Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) of New Zealand represents the most extreme example of beak dimorphism known in birds. We used a combination of nuclear genotyping methods, molecular sexing, and morphometric analyses of museum specimens collected in the late 19(th) and early 20(th) centuries to quantify the sexual dimorphism and population structure of this extraordinary species. We report that the classical description of Huia as having distinctive sex-linked morphologies is not universally correct. Four Huia, sexed as females had short beaks and, on this basis, were indistinguishable from males. Hence, we suggest it is likely that Huia males and females were indistinguishable as juveniles and that the well-known beak dimorphism is the result of differential beak growth rates in males and females. Furthermore, we tested the prediction that the social organisation and limited powers of flight of Huia resulted in high levels of population genetic structure. Using a suite of microsatellite DNA loci, we report high levels of genetic diversity in Huia, and we detected no significant population genetic structure. In addition, using mitochondrial hypervariable region sequences, and likely mutation rates and generation times...Continue Reading

References

Jul 1, 1992·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·L ZhangN Arnheim
Dec 1, 1995·Nature Genetics·H EllegrenB C Sheldon
Jan 1, 1993·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·P W WeninkM G Tilanus
Aug 15, 1996·Nucleic Acids Research·P TaberletJ Bouvet
Aug 26, 1998·Molecular Ecology·R GriffithsR J Dawson
Oct 19, 2004·Molecular Ecology·Thomas Broquet, Eric Petit
May 17, 2006·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Stephanie ManelRobin S Waples
Sep 12, 2008·Molecular Ecology Notes·Daniel FalushJonathan K Pritchard
Oct 4, 2008·PLoS Genetics·Craig D MillarDavid M Lambert
Jan 1, 2008·Molecular Ecology Resources·François Rousset

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
genotyping
PCRs
PCR
deamination

Software Mentioned

LAMARC
Arlequin
GENEPOP
Tracer
Sequencher
PARTITION
STRUCTURE
Genescan

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