Toward a resolution of a taxonomic enigma: First genetic analyses of Paradoxornis webbianus and Paradoxornis alphonsianus (Aves: Paradoxornithidae) from China and Italy

Paradoxornis webbianus and Paradoxornis alphonsianus naturally occur in South–East Asia. Due to a recent introduction, a mixed population currently occurs in northern Italy. A preliminary phylogeographic analysis using samples from Italy and China found little genetic differentiation between the two taxa and revealed the existence of two molecular lineages, sympatric in some part of China, that do not correspond to the morphological classification. Possible taxonomic changes and preliminary inferences on the relationships between Chinese and the Italian populations and on the likely provenance of the founders introduced in Italy are also discussed.

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► Genetic coincidence of Paradoxornis alphonsianus and P. webbianus.
► Identification of two morphologically-indistinguishable evolutionary lineages.
► Incoherence between molecular and morphologically-based taxonomy.
► Genetic homogeneity of the introduced Italian population.
► The founders of the Italian population were likely collected in the Sichuan province.