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Cytochrome b median joining network of fairy and fulmar prions with colour-coded sampling localities Fulmar prion samples are encompassed by a dashed line. The size of each circle is proportional to haplotype frequency. Hatch marks represent additional mutational steps separating haplotypes.
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Prions are small petrels that are abundant around the Southern Ocean. Here we use mitochondrial DNA (COI and cytochrome b) and nuclear reduced representation sequencing (ddRADseq) to examine the relationships within and between fairy (Pachyptila turtur) and fulmar (P. crassirostris) prions from across their distributions. We found that neither spec...
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Phylogeographic studies of evolutionary young species co-existing over a vast geographic area can provide insights in the process of evolutionary divergence and its cohesiveness in different parts of the species ranges. The Littorina snails of the saxatilis cryptic group diverged in near-glacial time, and tend to live in sympatry. L. saxatilis is w...
Citations
... Prions (Pachyptila) are small seabirds with a Southern Hemisphere breeding distribution. Eight extant species of prions are currently recognised (Checklist Committee (OSNZ) (2022); Shepherd et al. 2022) and they are closely related and estimated to have diverged in the last 6 million years (Masello et al. 2019). The species are similar in appearance and behaviour, making their identification challenging, especially at sea (Harper 1980). ...
... New Zealand is the centre of prion diversity, with five species breeding within the region (Checklist Committee (OSNZ) (2022); Shepherd et al. 2022), mostly on remote, predator-free islands. Prions are also regularly found beachcast on the New Zealand mainland, particularly during mass mortality events (wrecks) when many thousands of individuals may die, often following stormy weather (Harper 1980;Powlesland 1989;Warham 1996). ...
... The fairy and fulmar prion clade (P. turtur, P. crassirostris and P. pyramidalis) demonstrated a high level of genetic structuring with both genomic SNPs and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences, resulting in further taxa being recognised (Shepherd et al. 2022). In contrast, populations of broad-billed prion from the Atlantic Ocean and the New Zealand region could not be distinguished with either mtDNA sequences (cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase I (COI)) or 18 microsatellite loci (Masello et al. 2021). ...
Prions ( Pachyptila ) are small seabirds with a Southern Hemisphere breeding distribution. Antarctic prion ( Pachyptila desolata ) and Salvin’s prion ( P. salvini ) are two species that are regularly recorded in New Zealand as beach-wrecks but they are difficult to distinguish morphologically. Salvin’s prion is restricted to breeding on the Prince Edward Islands and Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean but Antarctic prions have a circumpolar breeding distribution on numerous sub-Antarctic and Antarctic islands in the Southern, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Our aim was to examine the level of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) structuring within Antarctic prion and Salvin’s prion colonies, to test whether this technique can determine the provenance of beach-cast birds. The Auckland Islands Antarctic prion population exhibited distinct mtDNA haplotypes from all other populations, supporting the suggestion that these islands may have been an ice-free refugium during the Last Glacial Maximum. All other sampled breeding populations shared haplotypes, limiting the use of these sequences for determining the provenance of beach-cast birds. None of our museum specimens of Salvin’s prion collected from breeding colonies produced DNA sequences. This result indicates that the method by which these specimens, which were collected in the 1960s and 70s, were preserved, or subsequent treatments, has resulted in the loss of their DNA.
... A sliver of footpad was removed from each specimen with a sterile scalpel blade. DNA extraction of the footpad tissue, PCR amplification, purification and sequencing followed Shepherd et al. (2022), except that the primers used were SPECF1 and GLUR7 (Wold et al. 2018) and the PCR annealing temperature was 60°C. Bidirectional sequencing with the same primers was performed by Macrogen (Seoul, South Korea). ...
Buller's albatross Thalassarche bulleri is generally considered to comprise two subspecies: T. b. bulleri, which breeds on islands south of the South Island, New Zealand; and T. b. platei, which nests on the Three Kings Islands, off the northern tip of of the North Island, and on outlying islets of the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand. Although the name platei has been widely applied to the latter population, some authors have suggested that its type specimen is in fact a juvenile T. b. bulleri. As a result, those birds breeding in the Chatham and Three Kings groups have sometimes been considered to represent an unnamed subspecies, or even species, given recent evidence of their genetic differentiation. Because our own morphological examination of the specimen was inconclusive as to which population the type of platei belongs, we subjected the individual to molecular testing. From this, we can confirm that the name platei has been correctly applied to the northern population of Buller's albatross. Schweizer, M.; Frahnert, S.; Shepherd, L.D.; Miskelly, C.M.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Bretagnolle, V.; Shirihai, H.; Kirwan, G.M. 2024. Genetic data confirm that Diomedea platei Reichenow, 1898, is the correct name for the population of Buller's albatross Thalassarche bulleri breeding at the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Notornis 71(4): 165-175.
Since the publication of the fifth edition of the Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand in 2022, 3 new vagrant species (2 terns and a storm petrel) have been accepted as occurring in New Zealand as at 31 December 2023, and 11 species that became extinct more than c. 1 million years ago have been described. These comprised 3 waterfowl, 1 owlet-nightjar, 1 tropicbird, 3 penguins, 1 albatross, 1 petrel, and a 'false-colie' (the latter is considered unrelated to any known group of birds). These 11 new fossil species were found in deposits of the following epochs: Paleocene (3), Miocene (6), and Pliocene (2). The richest areas for discovering new species were Miocene lacustrine deposits of the St Bathans region of Central Otago (5 species), and Paleocene marine deposits from the eastern South Island (3 species). Two Pliocene seabirds were from marine sediments in south Taranaki, and a Miocene albatross was found in a limestone quarry in South Canterbury. Recent publications potentially affecting the taxonomy, nomenclature, classification and arrangement of New Zealand birds are assessed, and recommendations are made that affect 56 taxa. This includes splitting Tibetan sand plover Anarhynchus atrifrons from Siberian sand plover A. mongolus, and Pyramid prion Pachyptila pyramidalis from fulmar prion P. crassirostris, thereby adding a further two species to the New Zealand bird list. The total number of bird species, including fossil species, now accepted from the New Zealand region is 502.
