POLYMORPHISM IN THE mtDNA OF THREE SPECIES OF PHEASANTS
两种锦鸡和环颈雉线粒体DNA（mtDNA）的比较研究

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms in three species of pheasants, i. e., common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), golden pheasant (Chrysolopus pictus) , and Chinese pheasant (C. amherstiae) , were analyzed to study phylogenetic relationships, when 10 restriction enzymes of 6-bp recognition were used, 20-29 sites were observed in the samples. The estimated number of nucleotide substitutions per site ( p ) between genera Phasianus and Chrysolopus is 0.076 (rangs from 0.067-0.085), and between golden and Chinese pheasants is 0.012. Divergence times between the two genera, and between the two species of genus Chrysolopus were estimated to be 3.8x106 and 6 X 105 years on the mean rate of sequences divergence of 0.02 per million years in mtDNA, respectively. These findings suggest: 1. Phasianus and Chrysolopus are two closely related genera in the phylogeny of pheasants. 2. There is possible that golden and Chinese pheasants are two subspecies, not two species.