Abstract
Nucleotide sequences of the entire mitochondrial cytochromebgene were used to study patterns of molecular evolution and phylogenetic relationships of the seven extant species ofAlectorispartridges. AmongAlectoris,transition substitutions were not saturated and 80% of nucleotide variability and informative parsimony substitutions were at third positions of codons. Transitions contributed most of interspecific genetic divergence. Phylogenetic analyses of the mtDNA sequences supported the existance of three main evolutionary events and were concordant with relationships reconstructed using allozyme data. The first splitting separated north AfricanA. barbaraand ArabianA. melanocephalafrom the otherAlectoris.Following, westernA. rufaandA. graecaseparated from eastern species. Recent speciation events originatedA. chukar, A. magna,andA. philbyi.A tentative calibration of rates of nucleotide evolution suggests thatAlectorisspeciated between ca. 6 and 2 million years ago. Consistent resolution of relationships among recent species ofAlectorismay require the addition of sequences from genes evolving faster than cytochromeb.
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