A Molecular Assessment of the Taxonomy of Iranian Sylvia Warblers (Aves; Sylviidae)

Abstract

The largest genus in the Sylviidae family is <em>Sylvia</em>, which is the archetype for warblers. It contains up to 28 species that are distributed in the Old World. Here, we study Iranian <em>Sylvia</em> using cytochrome <em>c</em> oxidase subunit 1 (<em>cox1</em>) and cytochrome b (<em>cytb</em>) mitochondrial markers to identify them and place them in a phylogenetic context using all available GenBank samples of sufficient length. Bayesian trees for both <em>cytb</em> and <em>cox1</em> mitochondrial markers are compatible. Previous results suggesting that the <em>Sylvia</em><em> curruca</em> complex is separated into two major clades with high support are corroborated, as our results show two main clades, one that includes <em>Sylvia</em><em> atricapilla</em> and <em>Sylvia</em><em> borin</em> plus <em>Pseudoalcippe atriceps </em>and<em> Lioptilus nigricapillus</em><em>,</em> and the remainder of the <em>Sylvia </em>species in the other one. Our study did not support the geographical groups: The West-Mediterranean group, the Central-Mediterranean group, and the East-Mediterranean or the African-European species, the African-Asian species, and the Mediterranean species inferred on molecular evidenced by previous studies. <em>Sylvia cantillans </em>is divided into three clades, corroborating previous studies. All Iranian samples were conclusively identified to species level, and none of them give rise to any further taxonomic inquiry.