Phylogenetic relationships of 18 passerines based on Adenylate Kinase Intron 5 sequences

Abstract

The 18 species of bird studied originally are known to belong to muscicapids, robins and sylviids of passerines, but some disputations are always present in their classification systems. In this experiment, phylogenetic relationships of 18 species of passerines were studied using Adenylate Kinase Intron 5 (AK5) sequences and DNA techniques. Through sequences analysis in comparison with each other, phylogenetic tree figures of 18 species of passerines were constructed using Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and Maximum-Parsimony (MP) methods. The results showed that sylviids should be listed as an independent family, while robins and flycatchers should be listed into Muscicapidae. Since the phylogenetic relationships between long-tailed tits and old world warblers are closer than that between long-tailed tits and parids, the long-tailed tits should be independent of paridae and be categorized into aegithalidae. Muscicapidae and Paridae are known to be two monophylitic families, but Sylviidae is not a monophyletic group. AK5 sequences had better efficacy in resolving close relationships of interspecies among intrageneric groups.

Keywords

molecular phylogeny / Adenylate Kinase Intron 5 / passeriformes / monophyly