01778nas a2200205 4500008004100000245010400041210006900145300001200214490000600226520114800232653002101380653001001401653002601411653001301437100002101450700001701471700002001488700001901508856004501527 2010 eng d00aDNA from a 100-year-old Holotype Confirms the Validity of a Potentially Extinct Hummingbird Species0 aDNA from a 100yearold Holotype Confirms the Validity of a Potent a112-1150 v63 a

We used mtDNA sequence data to confirm that the controversial 100-year-old holotype of the Bogotá sunangel (Heliangelus zusii) represents a valid species. We demonstrate that H. zusii is genetically well differentiated from taxa previously hypothesized to have given rise to the specimen via hybridization. Phylogenetic analyses place H. zusii as sister to a clade of mid- to high-elevation Andean species currently placed in the genera Taphrolesbia and Aglaiocercus. Heliangelus zusii, presumed extinct, has never been observed in nature by biologists. We infer that the species occupied a restricted distribution between the upper tropical and temperate zones of the northern Andes and that it was most probably driven to extinction by deforestation that accompanied human population growth during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining DNA from nearly microscopic tissue samples from old hummingbird specimens and suggest that these methods could be used to resolve the taxonomy of dozens of avian taxa known only from type specimens.

10aBogotá sunangel10amtDNA10aPhylogenetic analyses10ataxonomy1 aKirchman, J., J.1 aWitt, C., C.1 aMcGuire, J., A.1 aGraves, G., R. uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2009.0545