ИСТИНА

Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Northern Goshawk are the most widely distributed representatives of the genus Accipiter in Eurasia and include at least 6 and 8 currently recognized subspecies, respectively (Thiollay, 1994). Nevertheless, their phylogeographic structure remains uncertain. We examined sequences obtained from blood, frozen tissues, feathers and museum skins, and in addition Genbank, for the whole range of both species. Two partial coding regions of mitochondrial cyt b and COI genes were selected. These species reveal relatively low polymorphism according to cyt b, especially Northern Goshawk, for which overwhelming majority belong to only one haplotype, COI results show a more diverse distribution of haplotypes. No clear relations between subspecies ranges were found, which may be explained by wide migrations of hawks across Eurasia after the last glaciation. An exception is the American Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis atricapillus, which differs substantially from Eurasian Goshawks by each gene; it probably represents a distinct species. This research is supported by Global Education Program (DL – 36/05 pr).