A Gondwanan origin of passerine birds supported by DNA sequences of the endemic New Zealand wrens

Abstract

Zoogeographic, palaeontological and biochemical data support a Southern Hemisphere origin for passerine birds, while accumulating molecular data suggest that most extant avian orders originated in the midLate Cretaceous. We obtained DNA sequence data from the nuclear c-myc and RAG-1 genes of the major passerine groups and here we demonstrate that the endemic New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) are the sister taxon to all other extant passerines, supporting a Gondwanan origin and early radiation of passerines. We propose that (i) the acanthisittids were isolated when New Zealand separated from Gondwana (ca. 82-85 Myr ago), (ii) suboscines, in turn, were derived from an ancestral lineage that inhabited western Gondwana, and (iii) the ancestors of the oscines (songbirds) were subsequently isolated by the separation of Australia from Antarctica. The later spread of passerines into the Northern Hemisphere reflects the northward migration of these former Gondwanan elements.

Molecular systematics of New World suboscine birds

“…The bootstrap consensus tree (Fig. 2) indicated that the New Zealand wren A. chloris, member of a group sometimes considered suboscine, was sister to ah other passerines, consistent with previous studies using sequence data (Barker et al, 2002;Ericson et al, 2002). Within the remainder of the passerines, the suboscines and oscines formed monophyletic groups.…”

The third nearly complete passerine bird from the early Oligocene of Europe

“…Besides the two specimens mentioned above, they include a nearly complete Wieslochia weissi from Germany Manegold 2004, 2006a), an articulated wing (Mayr and Manegold 2006b), and several dozen isolated wing bones (Manegold 2008;Mourer-Chauviré et al 1989). Outside Europe, Paleogene remains of possible passerines are known only from the early Eocene of Australia (Boles 1995(Boles , 1997, which agrees with the theory of the Southern Hemisphere origin of passerines based on DNA sequences (Ericson et al 2002; see also Mayr 2013).…”

Biogeographical patterns of endemic terrestrial Afrotropical birds

“…Recent molecular evidence shows that passerines are as old as the major non-passerine groups and probably date well back in the Cretaceous, in the Gondwanan region (e.g. Ericson et al, 2002), and so both groups may well have been subjected to similar forces, as suggested by Crowe & Crowe (1982). In addition, it would appear that, especially in the rain forests, both non-passerines and passerine species are generally much older than was previously thought (Roy et al, 2000).…”