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Nucleotide sequences for 1035 bp of the mitochondrial cytochromebgene were used to determine the molecular evolutionary relationships of species in the cosmopolitan avian genusAnthus.Phylogenetic analysis of these mtDNA sequences supported four major clades within the genus: (1) the small-bodied African pipits, (2) a largely Palearctic clade, (3) a largely South American clade, and (4) an African–Eurasian–Australian clade.Anthus hellmayri, A. correndera,andA. rubescensare shown to be paraphyletic. The possibility of paraphyly withinA. similisis instead inferred to be the discovery of a new species and supported by reference to the museum voucher specimen. Sequence divergence suggests a Pliocene/Miocene origin for the genus. AlthoughAnthuscytochromebis found not to be behaving in a clocklike fashion across all taxa, speciation during the Pleistocene epoch can be reasonably inferred for the 66 …