Abstract

Pruett and Winker (2005) recently published a phylogeographic study of the rock sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) in Beringia. They found that the species was variable with partitioned genetic diversity which did not, however, reflect the different subspecies that have been described. They concluded that this diversity had evolved in multiple refugia in Beringia and that these refugia were in operation during the last glaciation or between 117,000 and 10,000 years BP. Other authors have also published interpretations of phylogeographies of taxa today restricted to high-latitude areas concluding that glacial refugia are likely to have existed (Tremblay and Schoen 1999; Holder et al. 1999; Fedorov and Stenseth 2002; Loehr et al. 2006; Anderson et al. 2006). However, these studies would benefit from an alternative interpretative perspective.