Phylogeny of long-tailed tits and allies inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear markers (Aves: Passeriformes, Aegithalidae)
Abstract
In this paper we provide a molecular phylogeny based on three mitochondrial and three nuclear markers for all long-tailed tit species of the genus Aegithalos including several doubtful subspecies (17 taxa) plus three close allies of SE Asian Leptopoecile and North American Psaltriparus. Genus Aegithalos is divided into three major clades, two of them showing only minor differentiation. Separation of two mitchondrial haploytpe clusters in the N Palearctic Long-tailed Tit, Ae. caudatus, was dated back to the Late Pleistocene, however, descendants from both lineages underwent a rapid post-Pleistocene range expansion and largely mixed over the entire distribution area. The Chinese populations of the glaucogularis subspecies group represent a slightly earlier Pleistocene split from the Ae. caudatus clade. Genetic differentiation among several doubtful SE Asian species taxa on the sister clade of the latter N Palearctic/Chinese clade matches the intraspecific differentiation within Ae. caudatus. Unexpectedly, cytochrome-b distances among Himalayan Ae. iouschistos (including the subspecies bonvaloti from China and sharpei from Myanmar) and the Chinese endemic Ae. fuliginosus range at approximately 0.5% and apparently all these extant ...Continue Reading
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Past hybridization between two East Asian long-tailed tits (Aegithalos bonvaloti and A. fuliginosus)
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