Title
Molecular phylogenetic analysis of an endangered Mexican sparrow: Spizella wortheni
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2010
Publication Title
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
57
Issue
3
First page number:
1319
Last page number:
1322
Abstract
The Worthen’s Sparrow (Spizella wortheni) is an endemic bird species of the Mexican Plateau that is protected by Mexican law. Considering its limited range (25 km2), small population size (100–120 individuals), and declining population, it is one of the most endangered avian species in North America. Although it has been assumed to be the sister taxon of the Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla), the systematic and evolutionary relationships of Worthen’s Sparrow have never been tested using modern molecular phylogenetic methods. We addressed the molecular phylogeny of S. wortheni analyzing six mitochondrial genes (3571 bp) from all of the natural members of the genus Spizella. Our maximum likelihood and Bayeasian analysis indicate that despite the superficial similarity, S. wortheni is not the sister taxon of S. pusilla, but is instead most closely related to the Brewer’s Sparrow (Spizella breweri). Also new insights about the phylogenetics relationships of the Spizella genera are presented.
Keywords
Bird populations; Endangered species; Phylogeny; Spizella; Worthen’s Sparrow
Controlled Subject
Bird populations--Research; Endangered species; Sparrows
Disciplines
Ornithology | Population Biology
File Format
File Size
224 KB
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited.
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Repository Citation
Canales-del-Castillo, R.,
Klicka, J.,
Favela, S.,
Gonzalez-Rojas, J. I.
(2010).
Molecular phylogenetic analysis of an endangered Mexican sparrow: Spizella wortheni.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 57(3),
1319-1322.
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