Mitochondrial DNA Phylogenetic Definition of a Group of ‘Arid-Zone’ Carduelini Finches

摘要

Birds included within the Carduelini tribe (genera Rhodopechys, Carpodacus and Leucosticte) apparently belongto the same radiation according to molecular phylogenetic analyses. Our phylogenetic analyses based on nucleotidesequences of the cytochrome b gene (cyt-b) indicate that some of these birds (Rhodopechys mongolica, R. githaginea andCarpodacus nipalensis) do not cluster together with their respective phenetically defined allies. This new group of birdsthrives in both hot and cold arid zones and are phenetically distinct, probably because of their adaptation to different extremeenvironments. Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods support the existence of this new evolutionarybasal group among finches which might have originated about 14 million years ago.