Molecular phylogeography and museum specimens: the case of the black francolin (Francolinus francolinus)

Thanks to the recent advances in molecular biology, application of archival DNA techniques for the investigation of specimens preserved in museums has come to represent an invaluable tool in conservation and evolutionary studies. The benefits of such an approach are evident with rare and elusive taxa displaying extremely wide distribution ranges. Sampling may be even more challenging with species whose range stretches over remote or politically unstable countries. As case in point, the extent of occurrence of the black francolin (Francolinus francolinus, Phasianidae) ranges from Cyprus across the Middle East to the Indian sub-continent, including six morphologically recognized clinal subspecies. Renowned as valuable game bird since the Classical Age, the black francolin has always aroused a considerable fascination, yet investigations on this species are still scarce. The goal of this study is getting a comprehensive insight into the phylogeographic pattern of the black francolin by means of a molecular approach to implement the available ecological data for planning management actions within an adaptive conservation framework. In order to pursue a whole coverage of the species distribution range, a number of tissues were loaned from properly selected specimens (n = 77) hosted at US and European natural history museum collections to implement the sampling of modern representatives (n = 205). All of the samples were investigated at a 185 bp-long fragment of the mitochondrial DNA Control Region. Overall, a well-marked intra-specific genetic structure largely coherent with the identification of traditional subspecies emerged, but the most interesting result was the occurrence of haplotypes ascribed to the Near East and the Indian subcontinent also in historical birds from Italy and Spain, which points to the importation of staple and rare exotic species from faraway places fueled by elite demand during the Medieval times and the Renaissance.