Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Arizona
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Goal: Use contemporary and museum samples and a high-throughput targeted capture approach to examine taxonomic differences among relevant subspecies of Mexican bobwhite. We propose a phylogenomic analysis of individuals from each subspecies with a goal of at least 40 individuals from C. v. ridgewayi, C. v. graysoni, C. v. nigripectus, C. v. coyolcos, C. v. insignis, C. v. salvini, and C. v. godmani. DNA was extracted from a total of 85 contemporary feathers and tissue samples as well as museum specimens in a dedicated ancient DNA laboratory. In this study, we will use ultra-conserved regions (UCEs) to interrogate genetic relationships among bobwhite subspecies in the southwestern US and Mexico. We will use any newly gained taxonomic information to aid the recovery efforts for the endangered masked bobwhite, particularly with respect to potential translocations into masked bobwhite areas from Mexico.