Phylogenetic relationships within parrots (Psittacidae) inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene sequences

Blood and tissue samples of 40 individuals including 27 parrot species (15 genera; 3 subfamilies) were collected in Indonesia. Their phylogenetic relationships were inferred from 907 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene, using the maximum-parsimony method, the maximum-likelihood method and the neighbor-joining method with Kimura two-parameter distance. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that (1) cockatoos (subfamily Cacatuinae) form a monophyletic sister group to other parrot groups; (2) within the genus Cacatua, C. goffini and C. sanguinea form a sister group to a clade containing other congeners; (3) subfamily Psittacinae emerged as paraphyletic, consisting of three clades, with a clade of Psittaculirostris grouping with subfamily Loriinae rather than with other Psittacinae; (4) lories and lorikeets (subfamily Loriinae) emerged as monophyletic, with Charmosyna placentis a basal sister group to other Lorlinae, which comprised the subclades Lorius; Trichoglossus+Eos; and Chalcopsitta+Pseudeos.