| molecular phylogenetic relationships of xiphidiopicus percussus, melanerpes, and sphyrapicus (aves: picidae) based on cytochrome b sequence. | the endemic woodpecker, xiphidiopicus percussus, from cuba has been postulated as the sister taxon to the hispaniolan woodpecker (melanerpes striatus) and its relationships to the genera sphyrapicus and melanerpes have been speculated. we used mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences from a collection of new world picids to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among these species using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood approaches. our data suggest that x. percussus is the sister taxon t ... | 2006 | 16814571 |