Recent divergence between two morphologically differentiated subspecies of bluethroat (Aves: Muscicapidae: Luscinia svecica) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence variation

Abstract

We assessed the mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence of a 718 bp fragment of the control region and 1007 bp of the cytochrome b gene between two allopatric morphologically different subspecies of bluethroat (Luscinia svecica). None of the 17 total haplotypes was shared between L. s. namnetum and L. s. svecica. However, the mean distances between subspecies were very low for both fragments (0.00168 ± 0.00001 (mean ± SE) for the control region; 0.00306 ± 0.00016 for the cytochrome b gene). Only one substitution made the two subspecies genetically differentiated, highlighting their recent divergence. Interestingly, the control region was not more variable than the cytochrome b gene.