Genetic divergence of Troglodytes troglodytes islandicus from other subspecies of Eurasian wren in northwestern Europe

• Published in: Journal of Avian Biology
• Main Authors: Amouret, J., Barisas, D. A. G., Hallgrímsson, G. T., Summers, R. W., Pálsson, S.
• Other Authors: the Univ. of Iceland research fund, the Univ. of Iceland doctoral fund
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2015
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Arctic; Faroe Islands; Norway
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jav.00744; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fjav.00744; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jav.00744

The Icelandic subspecies of Eurasian wren Troglodytes troglodytes islandicus has been described as a large wren which is sedentary on the island. It is one member of a large passerine complex which is widely distributed over the Holarctic except the Arctic. The taxonomic affiliation of the subspecies is mainly based on variation in plumage and on the song complexity. This study investigated the genetic differentiation of T. t. islandicus among the Eurasian wren subspecies in northwestern Europe, and especially in relation to its geographically proximate populations in the Faroe Islands, Scotland, southern Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Troglodytes t. islandicus and the Faroese subspecies ( T. t. borealis) were genetically differentiated from the other subspecies ( T. t. indigenus and T. t. troglodytes ) with an estimated time of divergence from this group during the last glacial maximum; 21 thousand years before present (KYBP) [44–8]. A clear but a more recent split was observed between T. t. islandicus and T. t. borealis 12 KYBP [28–4].