RECENT DIVERGENCE BETWEEN 2 MORPHOLOGICALLY DIFFERENTIATED SUBSPECIESOF BLUETHROAT (AVES, MUSCICAPIDAE, LUSCINIA-SVECICA) INFERRED FROM MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA SEQUENCE VARIATION

We assessed the mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence of a 718 bp frag ment of the control region and 1007 bp of the cytochrome b gene betwee n two allopatric morphologically different subspecies of bluethroat (L uscinia svecica). None of the 17 total haplotypes was shared between L . s. namnetum and L. s. svecica. However, the mean distances between s ubspecies were very low for both fragments (0.00168 +/- 0.00001 (mean +/- SE) for the control region; 0.00306 +/- 0.00016 for the cytochrome b gene). Only one substitution made the two subspecies genetically di fferentiated, highlighting their recent divergence. Interestingly, the control region was not more variable than the cytochrome b gene.