Molecular genetic and bioacoustic differentiation of Pnoepyga Wren-babblers

We reconstructed a molecular phylogeny for all four species of the wren-babbler genus Pnoepyga and added a comparative analysis of their territorial songs. The genus is divided into two species pairs which can also be distinguished by ecological and bioacoustic features. One species pair, Pnoepyga albiventer and P. formosana, occupies the higher forested mountain elevations of the Sino-Himalayas and Taiwan and shares broad-banded songs with a marked element-type variation. The second species pair, Pnoepyga pusilla and P. immaculata, occupies median and low mountain elevations of the Sino-Himalayas, continental Southeast Asia, and the Sunda region and has characteristic narrow-banded whistled songs. Intraspecific variation of molecular and bioacoustic markers in P. albiventer was conspicuous among individuals from Nepal and those from the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Hubei. A third distinct genetic lineage of P. albiventer was found in Myanmar. We suggest that the Chinese form be ranked as a separate species Pnoepyga mutica Thayer & Bangs, 1912. © 2012 Dt. Ornithologen-Gesellschaft e.V.