Phylogeography of rusty-necklaced partridge (Alectoris magna) in northwestern China

Rusty-necklaced partridges (Alectoris magna) are found in Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu provinces of northwestern China, distributed in mountainous areas that were heavily affected by cyclical climate changes throughout the Pleistocene. We investigated the potential impact of Pleistocene range shifts on phylogeographic patterns using 458 nucleotides of mitochondrial control-region from 102 individuals sampled from 10 populations across the current range. We found 31 haplotypes defined by 33 polymorphic positions. Phylogenetic analyses revealed two robustly supported clades, one corresponding to the Chaidamu Basin and the other including all individuals from all other populations. At the population level we also found significant evidence of differentiation. The phylogeographic structure of the rusty-necklaced partridge is consistent with the “phylogenetic discontinuity, spatial separation” pattern outlined by Avise et al. [Avise, J.C., Arnold, J., Ball, R.M., Bermingham, E., Lamb, T., Niegel, J.E., Reeb, C.A., Saunders, N.C., 1987. Intraspecific phylogeography: the mitochondrial DNA bridge between population genetics and systematics. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 18, 489–522].