TITLE:
An Online mtDNA Tool for Identification of Neotropical Psittacid Species and Taxonomic Issues: A Study Case of the Amazona ochrocephala Complex
AUTHORS:
Anderson Vieira Chaves, R.O.P. Queiroz-Filho, Fabiano Augusto Assunção Silva, Cristina Yumi Miyaki, Fabrício Rodrigues dos Santos
KEYWORDS:
Amazona aestiva, Illegal Trade of Birds, Psittaciformes, Phylogeography, DNA-Surveillance
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.5 No.11,
August
29,
2014
ABSTRACT: Parrots are among the most
popular pets in the world and they are also some of the most illegally traded,
particularly in Brazil. Some computational tools were recently developed by
researchers based on molecular databases for taxonomy support, forensic identification
and conservation purposes. In this study, the DNA Surveillance platform was
used to build an online database tool for molecular identification of Brazilian
Psittacids using DNA sequences of six mitochondrial genes. To illustrate
possible taxonomic issues of the online tool due to interspecific hybridization
or unresolved taxonomy, we focused on Amazona
aestiva that is considered as one of the most common parrots in Brazil,
commonly bred as pets, and considered to be part of a species complex with Amazona ochrocephala from South America.
We provide three curated sequence databases, which allow the species
identification of individuals or tissue samples of birds of the Psittacidae
family using mitochondrial DNA markers, and a comprehensive description of a
taxonomic issue involving the A.
ochrocephala complex. The results obtained corroborate previous studies suggesting
that these species are not reciprocally monophyletic, due to either an ancient
hybridization in central Brazil, or, they maybe just are morpho-varieties of
the same species. Alternatively, if A.
aestiva and A. ochrocephala were
considered as sister species, the data could be interpreted either as a result
of secondary contact or incipient speciation. Beyond the use of mtDNA for species
identification, the high mtDNA haplotype diversity observed in A. aestiva indicates its potential use
in discrimination of lineages that could be an important auxiliary tool to
certify the captive origin of legally commercialized parrots.