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Taxonomic revision of the Long-tailed Rosefinch Carpodacus sibiricus complex

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Abstract

The Long-tailed Rosefinch Carpodacus sibiricus breeds in two widely disjunct areas in East Asia. Five subspecies are usually recognized. The plumage differences between different subspecies groups within C. sibiricus are notable, suggesting it may actually comprise more than one species. However, proper taxonomic assessment has not been carried out, probably in part due to the scarcity and lack of museum specimens of some of these subspecies. In the current study, we re-evaluated the taxonomy of the C. sibiricus complex using molecular, acoustic and morphological data. Using mitochondrial DNA, the samples formed two clades, a northern clade (C. s. sibiricus, C. s. ussuriensis and C. s. sanguinolentus) and a southern clade (C. s. henrici and C. s. lepidus). We also revealed that C. s. ussuriensis and C. s. sanguinolentus are mostly indistinguishable based on mitochondrial markers. This north/south split pattern is congruent with the pattern of plumage differences among north and south taxa. However, no diagnosable differences were found in their songs. We propose synonymizing C. s. ussuriensis with C. s. sanguinolentus. At the species level, we suggest splitting the complex into two species, with Siberian Long-tailed Rosefinch C. sibiricus comprising C. s. sibiricus and C. s. sanguinolentus, and Chinese Long-tailed Rosefinch C. lepidus comprising C. l. henrici and C. l. lepidus.

Zusammenfassung

Taxonomische Revision des Meisengimpel Carpodacus sibiricus - Komplexes

Der Meisengimpel Carpodacus sibiricus brütet in zwei weit voneinander getrennten Gebieten in Ost-Asien. Fünf Unterarten sind allgemein anerkannt. Die Gefiederunterschiede zwischen verschieden Gruppen von Unterarten sind deutlich, und es ist daher möglich, dass es sich bei C. sibiricus um mehr als eine Art handelt. Eine detaillierte taxonomische Bewertung liegt bisher jedoch nicht vor, vermutlich aufgrund der Seltenheit einiger der Unterarten und dem Mangel an entsprechenden Museumsbälgen. In dieser Studie legen wir eine taxonomische Neubewertung des C. sibiricus-Komplexes auf Basis von molekularen, akustischen und morphologischen Daten vor. Auf Basis von mitochondrialer DNA können die Proben in zwei Kladen getrennt werden, eine nördliche Klade (C. s. sibiricus, C. s. ussuriensis und C. s. sanguinolentus) und eine südliche Klade (C. s. henrici and C. s. lepidus). Wir zeigen weiterhin, dass auf Basis mitochondrialer Marker C. s. ussuriensis and C. s. sanguinolentus weitgehend ununterscheidbar sind. Die Aufteilung in ein nördliches und südliches Taxon spiegelt sich in Gefiederunterschieden zwischen den nördlichen und südlichen Taxa wieder. Es konnten jedoch keine diagnostischen Unterschiede im Gesang festgestellt werden. Wir schlagen vor, C. s. ussuriensis mit C. s. sanguinolentus zu synonymisieren. Weiterhin schlagen wir vor, den Komplex in zwei Arten aufzuteilen, bestehend aus dem Sibirischen Meisengimpel C. sibiricus, bestehend aus C. s. sibiricus und C. s. sanguinolentus, und dem Chineschischen Meisengimpel C. lepidus, bestehend aus C. l. henrici und C. l. lepidus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Guoling Chen for assisting the lab work. PA acknowledges support from the Swedish Research Council (Grant no. 2015-04402), Jornvall Foundation and Mark and Mo Constantine. YL is grateful for support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. CW thanks the support of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. Additional recordings of vocalizations were provided by Paul Holt, Frank Lambert, Patrick Franke, Tom Wulf and annotated contributors via Xeno-canto. We thank Claus Rüffler for translating the abstract to German, and we are very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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Author notes

  1. Simin Liu and Chentao Wei: co-first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People’s Republic of China

    Simin Liu, Chentao Wei & Yang Liu

  2. AEC Ltd., 127 Commercial Centre, Palm Springs, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Paul J. Leader & Geoff J. Carey

  3. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Chenxi Jia & Per Alström

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, 92612, USA

    Yinan Fu

  5. Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Per Alström

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  1. Simin Liu
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Correspondence to Yang Liu.

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Communicated by J. T. Lifjeld.

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Liu, S., Wei, C., Leader, P.J. et al. Taxonomic revision of the Long-tailed Rosefinch Carpodacus sibiricus complex. J Ornithol 161, 1061–1070 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01801-9

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