Phylogeographic patterns in the great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major across Eurasia

• Published in: Journal of Avian Biology
• Main Authors: Zink, Robert M., Drovetski, Sergei V., Rohwer, Sievert
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2002
• Subjects: Ice; permafrost; Russian North; Sakhalin
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-048x.2002.330208.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1034%2Fj.1600-048X.2002.330208.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1034/j.1600-048X.2002.330208.x

We sequenced parts of three mitochondrial genes in 67 great spotted woodpeckers Dendrocopos major taken from 17 sites across Eurasia and Japan. Two groups, differing by ca. 3% sequence divergence, were determined to have had independent evolutionary histories: samples from the southeast (Sakhalin, Primor'e, Hokkaido), and the rest of Eurasia. The southeastern group corresponds to the subspecies D. m. japonicus , which will likely merit species status upon study of all subspecies; at present it should be considered an evolutionarily significant unit. From the United Kingdom to the Russian North Pacific, no phylogeographic divisions were found, which is likely a result of recent range expansion following retreat of permafrost after the last ice age.