Phylogenetic Relationships Of Tetraogallus Inferred From Sequences Of Mitochondrial Cytochrome B Gene

A phylogenetic tree of Neighbor-joining (NJ) distance matrix calculated with Kimura 2-parameter was performed and Crossoptilon auritum was used as outgroup to study the phylogenetic position of the genus Tetraogallus, to understand the phylogenetic relationships, and to infer the evolutionary process of Tetraogallus. Numbers near the branches were bootstrap probability (BP) values coming from 1000 replications. Some bootstrap probability values were 92% (Coturnix chinensis/ Coturnix japonica), 100% (Tetraogallus altaicus/ Tetraogallus himalayensis), and 100% ((Tetraogallus altaicus/ Tetraogallus himalayensis)/ Tetraogallus tibetanus). The overall average distance was 0.112, and average genetic distance among Tetralgallus was 0.042. The genera Alectoris, Coturnix, Tetrao-gallus and Pucrasia formed a monophyletic group. The two genera, Alectoris and Coturnix, should have a common ancestor, which was the sister taxon of the ancestor of the genus Tetraogallus.The interspecific genetic distances of the genus Tetraogallus were 0.012 (T.altaicus vs T. himalayensis), 0.067 (T. himalayensis vs T.tibetanus) and 0.068 (T.altaicus vs T.tibetanus) respectively. It was possible that Tibetan snow cocks were the primitive species among the three breeds, and, 1.7 million years ago, that one subspecies holding a deep body color, tibetanus distributing in the southwest of xinjiang and the Midwest of Tibet, of Tibetan snow cocks migrated towards the West and entered the Himalayan Mountain to become the present Himalayan snow cocks. Later, another subspecies of Himalayan snow cocks, koslowi, owning a light body color, often emerge in the Altai Mountain and the east of Kunlun Mountain to evolve into Altai snow cocks according to the witness of geographical distribution pattern and morphological character combing the genetic distances among them.As to Caspian snowcocks and Caucasian snowcocks, we consider our sample of Tetraogallus taxa insufficient to resolve this issue, and solid conclusions on the status of the total Tetraogallus awaited inclusion of additional related taxa, and require further investigation. But, we can give a hypothesis that, according to the geographical distribution range and morphological character, Tibetan snowcocks may be the most primitive breed among the five snowcock species, and Caucasian snowcock derived from Altai snowcocks. As to Caspian snowcocks, they might derive from Himalayan snowcocks. Of course, this hypothesis needs further investigation and study.