okay, tweets,

now that i have your underwear in a disarray by talking so
freely about great tits on a monday morning, Bruce posted the
URL for a nice discussion of what on earth is happening with
tit classification as written by John Penhallurick. The info
that supports reclassification of tits is based on DNA-DNA
hybridization data (Slikas, Sheldon & Gill 1996).

Contrary to my sources, the genus Parus still exists but only
includes TWO of the former Parus species, the great tit (Parus
major) and the Turkestan tit (Parus bokharensis). Retaining the
former genus when making a major reclassification should be a
major no-no when it comes to avoiding ongoing taxonomic headaches.
No wonder we all are so confused (me especially!) with all this
hair splitting going on.

back to your regularly scheduled programming,

Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD
Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow
Molecular Systematics Laboratories
Department of Ornithology
The American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at West 79th Street
New York, NY 10024-5192
212.313.7784 (office) 212.313.6962 or 212.313.7773 (lab)
email:nyneve at amnh.org or nyneve at myUW.net
work page http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/personnel/bennu.htm
personal pages http://research.amnh.org/users/nyneve/

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004, Bruce Whittington wrote:

> I did a quick web search and everything still refers to Parus major.
> This link provides some explanation of the changes, and indicates only
> Great Tit and Turkestan Tit left in the genus Parus. It may in fact be
> out of date too - I didn't go any further.
> http://menura.cse.unsw.edu.au:64800/1997/07/msg00037.html
>
> Hope that is some use -
> Bruce Whittington
> Victoria, BC
> mailto: fieldnat at pacificcoast.net
>
>