Last week there was considerable discussion on MDOsprey about DNA 
barcoding, engendered originally by a posting by Jim Felley.  Jim gave a 
link to an article in ScienceDaily dealing with an original article by Kerr 
and others entitled "Comprehensive DNA barcode coverage of North American 
birds".    No link to the Kerr et al article itself was provided in the 
ScienceDaily cover story.  After a bit of effort I found the original 
article, published in  "Molecular Biology Notes", and downloaded pdf files 
of it and earlier related articles from the same group.  These articles 
make clear that the authors were not offering what they considered 
definitive recommendations for species splits or lumps, but rather were 
attemptimg to explore the extent to which such barccoding might be useful 
in arriving at species definitions.  They also present reasons why the 
cytochrome c oxidase gene may be a a particularly useful one to provide 
preliminary guide lines for this purpose.  Thinking that some Maryland 
birders might be interested in reading the original articles for 
themselves, I asked Norm if he might arrange to make them available by 
posting links on MDOsprey.  Norm has kindly arranged to do so. Go to the 
website www.mdosprey.org.  There you will find an entry for barcoding 
articles, and you can download the pdf files.  Also included there are 
relevant comments posted on "Frontiers of Identification" by Christian 
Artuso with which I agree completely.

Many thanks to Norm for being willing to make these articles available.

Harvey Mudd

____________________________________
S. Harvey Mudd
NIMH/DIRP/LMB
Building 35, Room 1B1006
35 Lincoln Dr.
BETHESDA MD 20892
tel: 301-496-0681;  fax 301-402-0245
email: