Genetic data are increasingly being used to prioritize species conservation in a fiscally constrained age of seemingly boundless conservation crises. Such data can also reveal previously cryptic biodiversity requiring further revision of conservation management guidelines. Using a combination of mitochondrial (control region) and nuclear (beta fibrinogen intron 7) DNA, and morphology, we reveal that the endemic New Zealand Spotted Shag (Phalacrocorax punctatus) complex exhibits phylogenetic structure that is decoupled from previously recorded qualitative morphological variation. Crucially, the most genetically distinct populations within P. punctatus are from northern New Zealand; recent surveys show that these populations, which house important genetic diversity within Spotted Shags, are in danger of being extirpated. In contrast, we find the previously phenotypically differentiated nominate (P. punctatus punctatus) and Blue (P. punctatus oliveri) Shag subspecies show no genetic and morphological separation, and are of least conservation concern.
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31 July 2019
Archival DNA reveals cryptic biodiversity within the Spotted Shag (Phalacrocorax punctatus) from New Zealand
Nicolas J. Rawlence,
Matt J. Rayner,
Tim G. Lovegrove,
Debbie Stoddart,
Melanie Vermeulen,
Luke J. Easton,
Alan J. D. Tennyson,
R. Paul Scofield,
Martyn Kennedy,
Hamish Spencer,
Jonathan M. Waters
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The Condor
Vol. 121 • No. 3
August 2019
Vol. 121 • No. 3
August 2019
ADNA
archival-DNA
Blue Shag
New Zealand
Phalacrocorax featherstoni
Phalacrocorax punctatus
Phalacrocorax punctatus oliveri