Migration strategies within the tropics are poorly understood as are the drivers of movement and the degree of connectivity between sites in migrant birds that have their global range and life cycle exclusively on a single continent (intra-continental migrants). Dr Desiré Lee Dalton (Lecturer, Teesside University), Dr Jamie Bojko (Senior Lecturer, Teesside University) and collaborators have conducted a study on Diederik Cuckoo, an African bird species that is widely distributed south of the Sahara which migrates seasonally between breeding and nonbreeding sites. The aim of the study was to determine if the species is a single panmictic population or if it is genetically structured. Assessment of five morphometric measures did not identify differences between locality or sex. We additionally identified a lack of phylogeographic structure between populations from the northern and southern ends of the distribution which may be attributed to high levels of contemporary gene flow. However, we detected two genetic lineages that occurred in sympatry at a single location in South Africa (Limpopo). The sympatric lineages in the Diederik Cuckoo could be linked to maternal divergence in host selection of these brood parasites — a hypothesis requiring additional data to be tested.

Access the publication through the publisher’s website with this link (https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2023.2222230)