There are actually 16 or 17 different Kiwis

[Surroundx]

DNA study says there may be 11 kiwi species, ancestors driven apart by glaciers


Kiwi are weird.

The bumbling flightless birds have long snouts with nostrils at the tip, they're nocturnal, and they smell a bit like mushrooms.

Now, a groundbreaking DNA study of more than 200 birds suggests there are more species than the recognised five types and 16, or 17, distinct genetic forebears.

Research published in the the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences by the University of Toronto on kiwi DNA says the modern birds - genetically speaking - evolved more recently than previously thought.

A team led by University of Toronto Scarborough professor of biological sciences Jason Weir discovered that instead of the five known species, there are 11 types of birds alive now, with six species extinct.

Read more: DNA study says there may be 11 kiwi species, ancestors driven apart by glaciers | Stuff.co.nz

Abstract of the journal article: Explosive ice age diversification of kiwi

 

[TeaLovingDave]

That article needs a fact-checker to go through it, given it says the closest *living* relative of the kiwi is the Elephant Bird of Madagascar!

 

[Chlidonias]

mm, I would need to read that paper before saying anything. My immediate thoughts are different genetic lineages do not equate to as many subspecies or species... they are just different lineages. The article is saying "11 types" and the paper "11 taxa", both of which give it a grander-sounding importance than I suspect it deserves. (Indeed the author of the Stuff article doesn't really appear to know the difference between species, subspecies, and population). The title of the article itself, "DNA study says there may be 11 kiwi species", is nonsense.

 

[Chlidonias]

one of the local papers had this story in it yesterday, and included a distribution map of the different taxa mentioned in the study, so I had a little search and found the following article which includes the map.

Sciblogs | Ice ages led to ‘explosive’ diversity in Kiwi species

Basically the distributions and lineages in the study match the different populations which are already considered separate units and not interbred in captivity (for the North Island brown kiwi, which is the only one of relevence in that respect), although the eastern forms of South Island brown kiwi were a bit of an unknown because it was effectively- or completely-extinct by the time Europeans arrived, and the Okarito kiwi (rowi) quickly became more or less restricted to Okarito so it is only in the last decade or so that it has been realised that that was once the species in the lower North Island.

Really interesting map though, showing the fragmentation of ranges during the last glacial maximum, and hopefully the study (which I still haven't read) will show which populations are actually distinct enough to be treated as subspecies.