In birds, widespread species complexes often exhibit dramatic plumage differences across their distribution, which can give rise to discordance between morphotypes and phylogroups. Accurate identification of species diversity may require an integrated approach in which multilocus genetic data are used for inference and further corroborated by ecological, morphometric or behavioural data. Pomatorhinus gravivox and P. swinhoei, which were formerly considered component races of P. erythrogenys, were recently split using a delimitation system that mainly relied on the quantification of differences in phenotypic traits. We therefore carried out a reassessment of this taxonomic recommendation by conducting phylogenetic and population genetic analyses with multilocus genetic data. A deep mitochondrial split with a Kimura 2‐parameter distance of 0.061 was observed, mainly corresponding to the two morphologically defined species. However, one individual from P. swinhoei harboured a haplotype of P. gravivox. Individual‐based analyses of nuclear loci identified two distinct clusters that were exactly congruent with the two species. BPP delimitation also provided support for the separation. These congruencies support the notion that these two taxa are best regarded as two separate species. The presence of the P. gravivox mitochondrial haplotype in P. swinhoei was most likely a result of hybridization, due to the clear separation of nuclear loci. The speciation might be attributed to paleoclimatic changes but requires further evaluation due to the likelihood of ecological speciation. This study was in accordance with the results inferred from the quantitative system but highlighted the importance of sampling various data, especially in contact zones, in the study of taxonomy and speciation history.

中文翻译：

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形态类型或不同的物种？对两个东亚弯刀鹬（Aves， Timaliidae）的多位点评估

在鸟类中，广泛分布的物种复合体在其分布上经常表现出显着的羽毛差异，这可能导致形态型和系统群之间的不一致。物种多样性的准确识别可能需要一种综合方法，其中使用多位点遗传数据进行推断，并通过生态、形态测量或行为数据进一步证实。Pomatorhinus gravivox 和 P. swinhoei 以前被认为是 P. erythrogenys 的组成小种，最近使用主要依赖于表型性状差异量化的定界系统进行了拆分。因此，我们通过使用多位点遗传数据进行系统发育和群体遗传分析，对这一分类学建议进行了重新评估。深度线粒体分裂，木村 2 参数距离为 0。061 被观察到，主要对应于两种形态学定义的物种。然而，来自 P. swinhoei 的一个个体携带了 P. gravivox 的单倍型。基于个体的核位点分析确定了两个不同的簇，它们与这两个物种完全一致。BPP 定界也为分离提供了支持。这些一致性支持了这两个分类群最好被视为两个独立物种的观点。由于核位点的清晰分离，P. gravivox 线粒体单倍型在 P. swinhoei 中的存在很可能是杂交的结果。物种形成可能归因于古气候变化，但由于生态物种形成的可能性，需要进一步评估。