Origin of elevational replacements in a clade of nearly flightless birds – most diversity in tropical mountains accumulates via secondary contact following allopatric speciation

Tropical mountains are biodiversity hotspots. In particular, mountains in the Neotropics exhibit remarkable beta diversity reflecting species turnover along elevational gradients. Elevational replacements of species have been known since early surveys of the tropics, but data on how such replacements arise are scarce, limiting our understanding of mechanisms underlying patterns of diversity. We employed a phylogenetic framework to evaluate hypotheses accounting for the origin of elevational replacements in the genus Scytalopus (Rhinocryptidae), a speciose clade of passerine birds with limited dispersal abilities occurring broadly in the Neotropical montane region. We found that species of Scytalopus have relatively narrow elevational ranges, closely related species resemble each other in elevational distributions, and most species replacing each other along elevational gradients are distantly related to each other. Although we cannot reject the hypothesis that a few elevational replacements may reflect parapatric speciation along mountain slopes, we conclude that speciation in Scytalopus occurs predominantly in allopatry within elevational zones, with most elevational replacements resulting from secondary contact of formerly allopatric lineages. Our study suggests that accumulation of species diversity in montane environments reflects colonization processes as opposed to in situ divergence even in dispersal-limited animals.