New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Few genetic differences between Victorian and Western Australian blue penguins, Eudyptula minor

Jonathan C. Banks^*

R. H. Cruickshank

G. M. Drayton^†

A. M. Paterson

Bioprotection and Ecology Division
PO Box 84
Lincoln University
Canterbury 8150, New Zealand

^*Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand. j.banks@waikato.ac.nz

^†Present address: Crop & Food Research, Private Bag 4704, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.

Abstract Blue penguins, Eudyptula minor, breeding on Penguin Island, Western Australia are considerably larger than other blue penguins in Australia. If genetic isolation is the cause, it may have implications for the conservation status of some blue penguin populations. We compared the sequences of two mitochondrial gene regions (cytochrome-b and the control region) from Western Australian blue penguins with other populations of blue penguins from Australia and New Zealand. We found few differences between sequences from Western Australia, Phillip Island, Victoria and Otago, New Zealand, although all three differed considerably from other New Zealand blue penguins. Sequences for the control region from the Western Australian blue penguins and 30 more birds breeding at various Australasian sites provided further support for two major clades within Eudyptula; an Australian clade (including Otago) and a New Zealand clade.

Keywords control region; cytochrome-b; mitochondrial DNA; Sphenisciformes; systematics

Z08009 ; Online publication date 18 July 2008; Received 26 February 2008, accepted 21 May 2008

New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2008, Vol. 35: 265–270
0301–4223/08/3503–0265 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008

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