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DNA barcoding and evolutionary relationships in Accipiter Brisson, 1760 (Aves, Falconiformes: Accipitridae) with a focus on African and Eurasian representatives

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Abstract

We obtained full (647 bp) or mini (291 bp) DNA barcodes of 140 mostly African and European specimens of 25 Accipiter (Aves: Accipitridae) species. Kimura two-parameter (K2P) distances were calculated between barcodes to determine the thresholds of intra- and interspecific species boundaries. Thresholds were comparable to or higher than those in previous studies and ranged from 2.8 to 3.0 % (best compromise threshold based on cumulative intra- and interspecific K2P distances) and from 3.9 to 5.3 % (ten times the average intraspecific K2P distance). Identification success was determined using the best match and best close-match criteria and ranged between 84 % (mini barcodes) and 90 % (full barcodes). Incorrectly or ambiguously identified specimens belonged to two species that were represented by single sequences in the database (A. madagascariensis and A. trivirgatus) and three species pairs that shared at least one haplotype: viz. A. nisus and A. rufiventris, A. gularis and A. virgatus, and A. cooperii and A. gundlachi. The other 19 species were unambiguously identified using the full DNA barcodes. The studied species belong to eight traditional superspecies, of which three ([gentilis], [cooperii], and [tachiro]) were well supported. In one superspecies, [badius], species pairs were supported but not the superspecies.

Zusammenfassung

DNA-Barcoding und evolutionäre Beziehungen innerhalb der Gattung Accipiter Brisson, 1760 (Aves, Falconiformes: Accipitridae), mit besonderem Schwerpunkt auf deren afrikanischen und eurasischen Vertretern

Wir verwendeten vollständige DNA-Barcodes (647 bp) oder Mini-Barcodes (291 bp) von 140 Individuen (hauptsächlich afrikanischer und europäischer Herkunft) aus 25 Accipiter-Arten (Aves: Accipitridae). Um die Schwellenwerte für die intra- und interspezifischen Artgrenzen zu ermitteln, berechneten wir die Kimura-2-Parameter-Distanzen (K2P) zwischen den Barcodes. Die Schwellenwerte waren vergleichbar oder höher als die aus früheren Studien und lagen zwischen 2,8 und 3,0 % (BCTh-Schwellenwert (Best Compromise Threshold) auf der Grundlage kumulierter intra- und interspezifischer K2P-Distanzen) beziehungsweise zwischen 3,9 und 5,3 % (zehnfacher Durchschnitt der intraspezifischen K2P-Distanz). Der Erfolg der Zuordnung wurde anhand von Best-Match- und Best-Close-Match-Kriterien bestimmt und reichte von 84 % (Mini-Barcodes) bis 90 % (vollständige Barcodes). Nicht korrekt oder nicht eindeutig bestimmte Individuen stammten von zwei Arten, die in der Datenbank jeweils nur durch einzelne Sequenzen vertreten waren, sowie von drei Artenpaaren, welche mindestens einen gemeinsamen Haplotyp aufwiesen, nämlich: A. nisus − A. rufiventris, A. gularis − A. virgatus und A. cooperii − A. gundlachi. Die übrigen 19 Arten konnten anhand der vollständigen DNA-Barcodes eindeutig zugeordnet werden. Die untersuchten Arten gehören zu acht traditionell gebräuchlichen Superspezies, von denen drei ([gentilis], [cooperii] und [tachiro]) gut bestätigt wurden. Für eine Superspezies ([badius]), konnten zwar Artenpaare bestätigt werden, die Superspezies jedoch nicht.

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Acknowledgments

This work would have been impossible without the help of many people we would like to thank: everybody who collected samples, cut toe pads, identified specimens, and kindly allowed us to access their collections. We thank Gerhard Aubrecht (Ober-Österreichische Landesmuseen, Linz Austria), Marieke Berkvens (Wuustwezel, Belgium), Charles Botha (South Africa), Sebastien Bruaux (RBINS), Kizungu Byamana (Lwiro, DR Congo), Chang Yuong Choi (Migratory Bird Centre of the Korean National Park Service, South Korea), Stijn Cooleman (RMCA), S. Viñas & Lellani Fariñes Crespo (RMCA), Réné De Roland Lily Arison (Peregrine Fund, Madagascar), Renate van den Elzen (Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Koenig, Bonn, Germany), Clem Fisher (World Museum, Liverpool, UK), Jon Fjeldså (University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum, Denmark), Marc Herremans (Mechelen, Belgium), Jon Bolding Kristensen (University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum, Denmark), Georges Lenglet (RBINS), Danny Meirte (RMCA), Jürgen Plass (Ober-Österreichische Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria), Alain Reygel (RMCA), Lucia Liu Severinghaus (The Biodiversity Research Museum Taiwan, Taiwan), Erik Verheyen (RBINS), Malcolm Wilson (South Africa), and Reuven Yosef (International Birding & Research Centre, Eilat, Israel). We further thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments. All experiments complied with the laws of Belgium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Experimental Molecular Unit (JEMU), Royal Museum for Central Africa, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080, Tervuren, Belgium

    Floris C. Breman & Kurt Jordaens

  2. Joint Experimental Molecular Unit (JEMU), Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Gontran Sonet & Zoltán T. Nagy

  3. Laboratory for Cytogenetics and Genome Research Belgium, University of Leuven, Academic Hospital, Herestraat 49 bus 602, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Jeroen Van Houdt

  4. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080, Tervuren, Belgium

    Michel Louette

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  1. Floris C. Breman
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  2. Kurt Jordaens
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  3. Gontran Sonet
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  4. Zoltán T. Nagy
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  5. Jeroen Van Houdt
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Correspondence to Floris C. Breman.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Wink.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 2.

Table 2 List of specimens and GenBank and BOLD accession numbers used in this study
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Appendix 2

See Table 3.

Table 3 Mean intra- (diagonal and in bold) and interspecific pairwise K2P distances among 25 Accipiter species of (a) dataset A, and among 18 species of (b) dataset B and (c) dataset C
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Appendix 3

See Fig. 6.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Some examples of nucleotide character that were diagnostic for a species (sensu Rach et al. 2008). The top row of numbers gives the bp postions in the aligned 647 bp barcode fragment. The bottom row indicates whether the given position was located at the first, second, or third codon position

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Breman, F.C., Jordaens, K., Sonet, G. et al. DNA barcoding and evolutionary relationships in Accipiter Brisson, 1760 (Aves, Falconiformes: Accipitridae) with a focus on African and Eurasian representatives. J Ornithol 154, 265–287 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0892-5

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