Sillem's Mountain Finch Leucosticte sillemi is a valid species of rosefinch (Carpodacus,Fringillidae) |
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| Authors: | George Sangster Cees S. Roselaar Martin Irestedt Per G. P. Ericson |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden;2. Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden;3. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands;4. Department of Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | Sillem's Mountain Finch Leucosticte sillemi was described in 1992 on the basis of an adult and an immature specimen collected in western Tibet in September 1929, but its taxonomic validity and phylogenetic position have been unclear. Based on phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA from the holotype, we show that L. sillemi is not a colour morph of Brandt's Mountain Finch Leucosticte brandti but represents a valid, previously overlooked species of rosefinch (Carpodacus) that has secondarily acquired a pale plumage convergent on that of Leucosticte. Sillem's Mountain Finch is one of the least known species of bird and represents the only known species of rosefinch in which males have no reddish plumage coloration. This species and its sister taxon, the Tibetan Rosefinch Carpodacus roborowskii, are likely to be the world's highest‐altitude sister‐species pair of birds. |
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| Keywords: |
Carpodacus sillemi
high altitude
Leucosticte
molecular identification phylogenetics taxonomy Tibet |
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