Data from: Cloudy with a chance of speciation: integrative taxonomy reveals extraordinary divergence within a Mesoamerican cloud forest bird

The highlands of Mesoamerica harbor some of the highest biodiversity in the world, especially in cloud forests, but the landscape drivers of this diversification are not well known. Taxonomy in this region has been challenging due to a lack of consensus about how to test species limits. We apply integrative taxonomy to an emblematic species of the Mesoamerican cloud forests, the Unicolored Jay (Aphelocoma unicolor). We assess divergence along three complementary axes – genetics, phenotype, and ecological niche – finding evidence for differentiation among five lineages, currently described as subspecies, in isolated forest patches. DNA suggests that lineages have long histories of divergence. Multivariate analysis of phenotype, along with an objective method for detecting phenotypic clusters, suggest that at least four of the five lineages are diagnosable. There was also a pattern of increasing ecological divergence through time. The divergence observed among lineages is comparable to other species-level divergences in the genus, arguing for elevation of at least two, and as many as four, lineages within A. unicolor to species rank. According to our timetree, cloud forest patches became isolated starting in the late Miocene, continuing into the Pleistocene, suggesting both tectonic activity and glacial cycles as drivers of speciation.中美洲高地拥有全球顶尖的生物多样性水平，尤以云雾林生态系统为突出，但目前学界对驱动该区域物种多样化的景观调控因子仍缺乏深入认知。该区域的分类学研究长期面临挑战，核心原因在于学界尚未就物种界限的科学检验方案达成共识。本研究针对中美洲云雾林的代表性物种——纯色丛鸦（Unicolored Jay, Aphelocoma unicolor）开展整合分类学研究。我们从遗传学、表型特征与生态位三个互补维度评估物种分化程度，发现在孤立森林斑块中存在5个当前被划为亚种的演化支间的显著分化证据。DNA分子分析结果显示，各演化支拥有悠久的分化历史。多变量表型分析结合一种检测表型聚类的客观方法表明，5个演化支中至少有4个可被明确区分界定。同时还存在生态分化随时间推移不断加剧的演化模式。各演化支间的分化程度与该属内其他物种级别的分化水平相当，支持将纯色丛鸦内至少2个、最多4个演化支提升为独立物种。根据本研究构建的时间树结果，云雾林斑块自晚中新世开始逐渐发生地理隔离，这一过程持续至更新世，表明构造活动与冰期循环均为驱动该类群物种形成的关键因子。