adn_aarnaiz

Research Article Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches A.Arnaiz-Villena^a,*, J. Guillén^a,V. Ruiz-del-Valle^a, E. Lowy, J. Zamora^a, P.Varela^a, D. Stefani^b and L.M.Allende^a ^aDepartment of Immunology and Molecular Biology, Hospital 12 de Octubre, Universidad Complutense, 28041 Madrid (Spain), Fax +34 91 390 83 99, e-mail: aarnaiz@eucmax.sim.ucm.es ^bviale Colombo, 67, Cagliari (Sardinia) Received 26 March 2001; received after revision 7 May 2001; accepted 6 June 2001 Abstract. Mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) from 24 Carduelini species including crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, rosefinches, and other related, but not conclu- sively classified species, was sequenced. These se- quences were also compared with all the available se- quences from the genera Carduelis, Serinus, and Passer. Phylogenetic analyses consistently gave the same groups of finches and the calculated divergence times suggest that speciation of the studied species occurred between 14 and 3 million years ago (Miocene-Pliocene), appear- ing before the Passer, Carduelis, and Serinus genera. Pleistocene glaciations may have been important in sub- speciation. Crossbills are integrated within the genus Carduelis, together with redpolls; the common crossbill some other related genera comprising one or two species [1]. DNA hybridization techniques have placed Car- duelini finches closely to Hawaiian honeycreepers [1]. However, this technique presents many difficulties in in- terpretation and the Carduelini have also been related to ploceids and estrilids by osteological parameters [2] and to chaffinches, bramblings, and honeycreepers using my- ological data [3]. In the present work, we aimed to study the phylogenetic relationships among Carduelini (particularly crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches) at the mi- croevolutionary level by using mitochondrial cy- CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 58 (2001) 001–08 1420-682X/01/010001-08 $ 1.50 + 0.20/0 © Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2001 CMLS Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences CMLS 1163 shows subspeciation with Loxia japonica in the Pleis- tocene epoch. Pinicola enucleator groups together with bullfinches and is probably the ancestor of the group. Hawfinch is only distantly related to the studied groups, and might either represent an isolated genus or be related to the New World genus Hesperiphona. The grosbeak genera Eophona and Mycerobas are clearly sister groups, and species belonging to the former might have given rise to Mycerobas species. The isolated (in classification) Uragus sibericus and Haematospiza sipahi are included within the genus Carpodacus (rosefinches); Carpodacus nipalensis is outside the genus Carpodacus in the molec- ular analyses and might be an isolated species or related to the genus Montifringilla. Key words. Crossbill; bullfinch; grosbeaks, rosefinch; goldfinch; redpoll; Carduelini; canary; sparrow; greenfinch; siskin; linnet. The Order Passeriformes includes the Passerine birds, and contains several families and subfamilies represent- ing about one-half of extant birds [1]. The classification, phylogeny, and relationships of the so-called Carduelini finches remain unresolved. The tribe Carduelini includes goldfinches (genus Carduelis), crossbills (Loxia), ca- naries (Serinus), rosefinches (Carpodacus), bullfinches (Pyrrhula) and grosbeaks (Eophona, Mycerobas) and * Corresponding author. A. Arnaiz-Villena and J. Guillén contributed equally to this work.