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

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