Garrulus lidthi

Abstract: The Eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius Linnaeus, 1758 is a widespread Palearctic species which includes 33-35 more or less differentiated subspecies. These subspecies, combined into eight groups (Stresemann 1940; Vaurie 1959) were later classified in five morphologically and geographically defined groups (Goodwin 1986). Besides G. glandarius, two monotypic species belong to the genus: Lidth’s jay Garrulus lidthi Bonaparte, 1850 (restricted to some southern Japanese Islands) and Black-headed jay Garrulus lanceolatus Vigors, 1831 (Himalayas). Up to now, molecular phylogenetic studies including jays were published mainly for inter-species and inter-genus comparisons. Cibois and Pasquet (1999) investigated the phylogenetic relationships of 11 genera of Corvidae using sequence of the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b gene (cytb) as a molecular marker. In that analysis a close relationship of G. glandarius and the Siberian jay Perisoreus infaustus was rejected, a result which was confirmed later by Ericson et al. (2005) in an analysis based on one mt and two nuclear genes. These authors revealed a closer relationship of jays with several genera of the Old World corvids than to