Korean Magpie
Encyclopedia
The Korean Magpie Pica (pica) sericea, known as "ggachee" (까치) in Korean, is generally treated as an East Asia
n subspecies
, of the European Magpie
(Pica pica), but it may be a distinct species
. It is a common symbol of the Korea
n identity, and has been adopted as the "official bird" of numerous South Korea
n cities, counties and provinces. But it is not limited to the Korean Peninsula
and if considered a valid species its range may extend almost to the Himalayas
. Consequently, other vernacular names may be used for this bird, e.g. Asian Magpie or Chinese Magpie.
Compared to the European Magpie, it differs not in size but is somewhat stockier, with a proportionally shorter tail and longer wings. The back, tail, and particularly the remiges show strong purplish-blue iridescence
with few if any green hues. The populations found east of the Tibetan Plateau
, which might belong to this species, are larger (the largest Pica
magpies on Earth). They have a rump plumage that is mostly black, with but a few and often hidden traces of the white band which connects the white shoulder patches in their relatives.
The Korean Magpie has the a similar chatter call as the European birds, but it is markedly softer.
mtDNA sequence
s indicates that either all Pica
magpies should be considered races of one species
, or that P. p. sericea needs to be separated as a distinct species; it has been reproductively isolated
for longer even than the Yellow-billed Magpie
(P. nuttalli) of North America
. Hence, pending more comprehensive studies, the species binomen
is put into parentheses, indicating that this bird may or may not be considered distinct. The large magpies found from the eastern Himalayas
region to southern China
(Tibetan Magpie or Black-rumped Magpie, P. p. bottanensis) could belong to sericea if that is split off as a species. The relationships of P. p. leucoptera, found north of the arid
lands of Mongolia
, is yet to be determined, but the similar-looking subspecies
from Kamchatka Krai and its surroundings (P. p. camtschatica) is the easternmost population of the "European" Magpie. Of particularly interest is also the population called P. p. jankowskii (which is often included in sericea); this taxon
refers to the birds found north of Korea, towards the range of leucoptera. P. p. japonica from southern Japan
is usually included in sericea today.
It seems that the Korean Magpie's evolution
as a distinct lineage started considerably earlier than the Gelasian
date of c.2 million years ago (Ma) indicated by a molecular clock
analysis. The assumed divergence rate – 1.6% point mutation
s per Ma – is appropriate for a long-lived passerine
, but hybridization – which as only mtDNA was used would be hard to detect – and the few specimens analyzed make the molecular clock estimate just an approximation. Meanwhile, the fossil record of North American magpies has a specimen – UCMP 43386, a left tarsometatarsus
from Palo Duro Falls
(Randall County, Texas) – which is probably from the Early Pleistocene
Irvingtonian
age, around 2-1 Ma. It shows the distinct features of a Black-billed Magpie
(P. (p.) hudsonia), though it might be from a common ancestor of Black- and Yellow-billed Magpies. This was not used to calibrate the molecular clock analysis, but accounting for the phylogenetic hypothesis it appears more likely that the Korean Magpie's ancestors diverged from other Pica in the Early Pliocene already, perhaps 5-4.5 Ma, antedating the uplift of the Sierra Nevada which cut off most gene flow
between the two North American populations. Residual gene flow between them (and between the two (or more?) Eurasian magpie lineages) until the onset of the Quaternary glaciation
some 2.6-2 Ma may also have skewed the molecular clock results.
Like the other Pica magpies, the Korean Magpie is a member of the large radiation
of mainly Holarctic
corvids, which also includes the typical crows and ravens (Corvus) nutcrackers (Nucifraga) and Old World jay
s. The long tail might be plesiomorphic for this group, as it is also found in the tropical Asian magpie
s (Cissa and Urocissa
) as well as in most of the very basal corvids, such as the treepie
s. The unique black-and-white color pattern of the "monochrome
" magpies is an autapomorphy.
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
, of the European Magpie
European Magpie
The European Magpie, Eurasian Magpie, or Common Magpie, , is a resident breeding bird throughout Europe, much of Asia and northwest Africa. It is one of several birds in the crow family named as magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic radiation of "monochrome" magpies...
(Pica pica), but it may be a distinct species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. It is a common symbol of the Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n identity, and has been adopted as the "official bird" of numerous South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n cities, counties and provinces. But it is not limited to the Korean Peninsula
Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...
and if considered a valid species its range may extend almost to the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. Consequently, other vernacular names may be used for this bird, e.g. Asian Magpie or Chinese Magpie.
Compared to the European Magpie, it differs not in size but is somewhat stockier, with a proportionally shorter tail and longer wings. The back, tail, and particularly the remiges show strong purplish-blue iridescence
Iridescence
Iridescence is generally known as the property of certain surfaces which appear to change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes...
with few if any green hues. The populations found east of the Tibetan Plateau
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...
, which might belong to this species, are larger (the largest Pica
Pica (genus)
Pica is the genus of two to four species of birds in the family Corvidae in both the New World and the old. They have long tails and have predominantly black and white markings. One species ranges widely from Europe through Asia, one occurs all over North America and the third is restricted to...
magpies on Earth). They have a rump plumage that is mostly black, with but a few and often hidden traces of the white band which connects the white shoulder patches in their relatives.
The Korean Magpie has the a similar chatter call as the European birds, but it is markedly softer.
Systematics and evolution
Recent research comparing 813 bpBase pair
In molecular biology and genetics, the linking between two nitrogenous bases on opposite complementary DNA or certain types of RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds is called a base pair...
mtDNA sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
s indicates that either all Pica
Pica (genus)
Pica is the genus of two to four species of birds in the family Corvidae in both the New World and the old. They have long tails and have predominantly black and white markings. One species ranges widely from Europe through Asia, one occurs all over North America and the third is restricted to...
magpies should be considered races of one species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, or that P. p. sericea needs to be separated as a distinct species; it has been reproductively isolated
Reproductive isolation
The mechanisms of reproductive isolation or hybridization barriers are a collection of mechanisms, behaviors and physiological processes that prevent the members of two different species that cross or mate from producing offspring, or which ensure that any offspring that may be produced is not...
for longer even than the Yellow-billed Magpie
Yellow-billed Magpie
The Yellow-billed Magpie, Pica nuttalli, is a large bird in the crow family found only in California. It inhabits the Central Valley and the adjacent chaparral foothills and mountains...
(P. nuttalli) of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Hence, pending more comprehensive studies, the species binomen
Binomen
In zoological nomenclature, a binomen , is the two-part name of a species. The term was introduced in 1953, abolishing the previously used "binomial name" . A binomen consists of a generic name and a specific epithet...
is put into parentheses, indicating that this bird may or may not be considered distinct. The large magpies found from the eastern Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
region to southern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(Tibetan Magpie or Black-rumped Magpie, P. p. bottanensis) could belong to sericea if that is split off as a species. The relationships of P. p. leucoptera, found north of the arid
Arid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
lands of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, is yet to be determined, but the similar-looking subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
from Kamchatka Krai and its surroundings (P. p. camtschatica) is the easternmost population of the "European" Magpie. Of particularly interest is also the population called P. p. jankowskii (which is often included in sericea); this taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
refers to the birds found north of Korea, towards the range of leucoptera. P. p. japonica from southern Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
is usually included in sericea today.
It seems that the Korean Magpie's evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
as a distinct lineage started considerably earlier than the Gelasian
Gelasian
The Gelasian is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest or lowest subdivision of the Quaternary period/system and Pleistocene epoch/series. It spans the time between 2.588 ± 0.005 Ma and 1.806 ± 0.005 Ma...
date of c.2 million years ago (Ma) indicated by a molecular clock
Molecular clock
The molecular clock is a technique in molecular evolution that uses fossil constraints and rates of molecular change to deduce the time in geologic history when two species or other taxa diverged. It is used to estimate the time of occurrence of events called speciation or radiation...
analysis. The assumed divergence rate – 1.6% point mutation
Point mutation
A point mutation, or single base substitution, is a type of mutation that causes the replacement of a single base nucleotide with another nucleotide of the genetic material, DNA or RNA. Often the term point mutation also includes insertions or deletions of a single base pair...
s per Ma – is appropriate for a long-lived passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
, but hybridization – which as only mtDNA was used would be hard to detect – and the few specimens analyzed make the molecular clock estimate just an approximation. Meanwhile, the fossil record of North American magpies has a specimen – UCMP 43386, a left tarsometatarsus
Tarsometatarsus
The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is found in the lower leg of certain tetrapods, namely birds.It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsal and metatarsal bones...
from Palo Duro Falls
Palo Duro Canyon
Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States. As the second largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly long and has an average width of , but reaches a width of at places. Its depth is around...
(Randall County, Texas) – which is probably from the Early Pleistocene
Early Pleistocene
Calabrian is a subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Geologic time scale. ~1.8 Ma.—781,000 years ago ± 5,000 years, a period of ~.The end of the stage is defined by the last magnetic pole reversal and plunge in to an ice age and global drying possibly colder and drier than the late Miocene ...
Irvingtonian
Irvingtonian
The Irvingtonian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology , typically set from 1,800,000 to 300,000 years BP, a period of . It is usually considered to overlap the Lower Pleistocene and Middle...
age, around 2-1 Ma. It shows the distinct features of a Black-billed Magpie
Black-billed Magpie
The Black-billed Magpie is a bird in the crow family that inhabits the western half of North America. It is notable for its domed nests, and for being one of only four North American songbirds whose tail makes up half or more of the total body length The Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) is a...
(P. (p.) hudsonia), though it might be from a common ancestor of Black- and Yellow-billed Magpies. This was not used to calibrate the molecular clock analysis, but accounting for the phylogenetic hypothesis it appears more likely that the Korean Magpie's ancestors diverged from other Pica in the Early Pliocene already, perhaps 5-4.5 Ma, antedating the uplift of the Sierra Nevada which cut off most gene flow
Gene flow
In population genetics, gene flow is the transfer of alleles of genes from one population to another.Migration into or out of a population may be responsible for a marked change in allele frequencies...
between the two North American populations. Residual gene flow between them (and between the two (or more?) Eurasian magpie lineages) until the onset of the Quaternary glaciation
Quaternary glaciation
Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, the current ice age or simply the ice age, refers to the period of the last few million years in which permanent ice sheets were established in Antarctica and perhaps Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets have occurred elsewhere...
some 2.6-2 Ma may also have skewed the molecular clock results.
Like the other Pica magpies, the Korean Magpie is a member of the large radiation
Evolutionary radiation
An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomic diversity or morphological disparity, due to adaptive change or the opening of ecospace. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid or gradual; where they are rapid, and driven by a single lineage's adaptation to their environment,...
of mainly Holarctic
Holarctic
The Holarctic ecozone refers to the habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole. This region is divided into the Palearctic, consisting of Northern Africa and all of Eurasia, with the exception of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and the Nearctic,...
corvids, which also includes the typical crows and ravens (Corvus) nutcrackers (Nucifraga) and Old World jay
Jay
The jays are several species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the crow family Corvidae. The names jay and magpie are somewhat interchangeable, and the evolutionary relationships are rather complex...
s. The long tail might be plesiomorphic for this group, as it is also found in the tropical Asian magpie
Magpie
Magpies are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae.In Europe, "magpie" is often used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie, as there are no other magpies in Europe outside Iberia...
s (Cissa and Urocissa
Urocissa
Urocissa is a genus of birds in the family Corvidae, which resides in the huge Passerine order. It consists of mainly brightly coloured magpies in Asia.Species in the genus Urocissa:* Formosan Blue Magpie, Urocissa caerulea...
) as well as in most of the very basal corvids, such as the treepie
Treepie
The treepies comprise four closely related genera of long-tailed passerine birds in the family Corvidae...
s. The unique black-and-white color pattern of the "monochrome
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
" magpies is an autapomorphy.