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The Taiwan Firecrest (Regulus goodfellowi) belongs to the Goldcrest assemblage (Regulus regulus s. l.): evidence from mitochondrial DNA and the territorial song of the Regulidae

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Abstract

We evaluated the phylogenetic relationships of the Taiwan Firecrest or Flamecrest, Regulus goodfellowi, on the basis of two mitochondrial markers (cytochrome b, 16S rRNA) and territorial song. Genetic samples from eighteen subspecies of all currently accepted crest and kinglet species were available for comparison. In all molecular tree reconstructions it was clearly apparent the Taiwan endemic species was the sister species of all the palearctic Goldcrests (Regulus regulus) from Bayesian inference of phylogeny, although with weak bootstrap support and conflicting position in the ML and NJ trees. Genetic distances based on cyt-b sequences between R. goodfellowi and subspecies of R. regulus ranged between 6.1 and 8.2%. Two separate divergence time estimates dated the colonization of Taiwan to the mid to late Pliocene from 5–2 Mya. The high-pitched territorial songs of R. goodfellowi strongly resemble those of Sino-Himalayan Goldcrests (ssp. himalayensis, sikkimensis, and yunnanensis), but the terminal flourish typical of Goldcrests is invariable and only rarely included in songs of R. goodfellowi. Discriminant analysis of spectral and temporal characteristics separated the songs of the Southeast Asian populations from those of two other large clusters, the Canarian and Northwest Palearctic. Songs of R. goodfellowi were 100% correctly assigned and well distinguishable from Sino–Himalayan songs. Cluster analysis of Regulus songs strongly corroborated the sister group relationship of R. goodfellowi and R. regulus as reconstructed from concatenated mitochondrial sequence data. All results from molecular and acoustic analysis justify the species rank of the Taiwan endemic species and suggest that it is only distantly related to the firecrest clade (R. ignicapillus, R. madeirensis).

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Acknowledgments

This study is part of a research project on the “Radiation and phylogeography of the endemic avifauna of Taiwan” that was substantially funded by Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft (DO-G) and Gesellschaft für Tropenornithologie (GTO). We are grateful to both institutions which facilitated travelling and laboratory work for the Taiwan Firecrest project. Further funding was granted by the Feldbausch-Stiftung and Wagner-Stiftung, both at Fachbereich Biologie of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. The National Museum of Natural Science Taichung, Taiwan kindly provided tissue samples of Regulus goodfellowi for the genetic analyses, and further samples of North American kinglets were kindly provided by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture Washington, USA. Bin Yen Hsu, Jerome Chien, and Wen Yin Hu kindly helped with the logistics and organisation of field work at Shitou, Alishan, and Anmashan, and Yu-Hsun Hsu assisted during laboratory work on Taiwan. We would also like to thank Professor Tzung-Su Ding and Simon Liao for the kind organisation of guided tours on Alishan and Shitou National Forest Recreation Area. Felix Manuel Medina from la Unidad de Medio Ambiente, La Palma, Aurelio Martin from la Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, and José Rodriguez Dominguez from El Largatorio, El Hierro, helped with the organization of sampling permissions on the Canary Islands. P.H. Becker kindly provided further song recordings from two populations in N. Spain.

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  1. Staatliche Naturhistorische Sammlungen, Museum für Tierkunde, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, 01109, Dresden, Germany

    Martin Päckert

  2. Institut für Zoologie, Saarstraße 21, 55099, Mainz, Germany

    Jochen Martens

  3. Research Center for Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Lucia Liu Severinghaus

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  1. Martin Päckert
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  3. Lucia Liu Severinghaus
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Correspondence to Martin Päckert.

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Communicated by M. Wink.

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Päckert, M., Martens, J. & Severinghaus, L.L. The Taiwan Firecrest (Regulus goodfellowi) belongs to the Goldcrest assemblage (Regulus regulus s. l.): evidence from mitochondrial DNA and the territorial song of the Regulidae. J Ornithol 150, 205–220 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0335-5

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