Phylogenetic origin of the endemic pigeons from Madeira (Columba trocaz) and Azores Islands (Columba palumbus azorica)

This study addresses for the first time the issue of pigeon (genus Columba) phylogeny within the archipelagos of Madeira (Columba trocaz) and Azores (C. palumbus azorica), located in the singular biogeographic area of Macaronesia. The phylogeny of these endemic pigeons was inferred based on mitochondrial (cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase I) and nuclear (β-fibrinogen intron 7) genetic markers through multiple approaches. Despite the non-monophyletic pattern for the insular endemic species recovered in the phylogenies, topology tests presented somewhat different results. C. trocaz, the Madeiran endemic species, clustered strongly with the Canarian endemic C. bollii, and these two are thus more closely related to each other than C. bollii to C. junoniae, the other endemic species of Canary Islands, which seems to have diverged independently. Moreover, C. trocaz was found to be phylogenetically closer to C. bollii than to C. palumbus from mainland Europe and Azores Islands. No genetic differentiation was found between the continental C. p. palumbus and the endemic C. p. azorica, which suggests a relatively recent colonisation event of the Azores Islands.