The American bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) is the only species placed in the genus Psaltriparus and the only species in the family Aegithalidae that is found in the New World. In North America, it is referred to simply as "bushtit".
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Psaltriparus minimus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens16
BINs2
Marker genes1
eDNA detections16
Countries2
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P694 bp consensus16 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 94% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 40 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.9%
Haplotypes4
BINs2
Most divergent pair3.3%
N.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
07Deep time~12.6 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin12.6 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type2 416 325 records
Wild obs. + sensor2 413 751
Museum / vouchered2 454
Other120
Origin
Native510
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO216 412 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy86% within 1 km
≤100 m 17 201≤1 km 8 394≤10 km 1 870>10 km 2 254
29 719 georeferenced · 2 384 032 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor2 413 751
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy52% within 1 km
≤100 m 729≤1 km 110≤10 km 619>10 km 165
1 623 georeferenced · 831 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence2 454
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions37 of 64 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Seattle, US
464
Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental Collegelocation not on record
274
Los Angeles, US
183
US
115
Denver, US
113
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
105
München, DE
87
South Kensington, GB
84
Tacoma, US
81
New Haven, US
77
Ciudad de México, MX
76
Wuzhou, CN
73
Morelia, MX
61
Mexico City, MX
60
Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record
55
San Diego, US
52
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
49
Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record
42
CASlocation not on record
31
Ann Arbor, US
30
19
EL PASO, US
18
Zacatecas, MX
17
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
17
University of California Los Angeleslocation not on record
16
Berkeley, US
15
Mongolian Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
12
Facultad de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja Californialocation not on record
11
Washington State University, Charles R. Conner Museumlocation not on record
11
University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record
10
St. Paul, US
10
Washington, US
9
Ohio State University - Bird Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record
9
Ithaca, US
9
Cambridge, US
8
Chicago, US
5
Albany, US
5
University of Victorialocation not on record
4
Philadelphia, US
4
Mexico City, MX
4
Santa Cruz, US
3
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, MX
3
Iowa City, US
3
Vancouver, CA
3
Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenadalocation not on record
2
Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica A. C.location not on record
2
Indiana State Universitylocation not on record
2
Ensenada, MX
2
Sistema de Colecciones Biológicas, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala location not on record
2
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
2
ASNHClocation not on record
2
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
Cincinnati, US
1
Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipaslocation not on record
1
Chicago, US
1
Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record
1
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
1
NCBlocation not on record
1
Ohio Wesleyan University Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
East Lansing, US
1
Zografou, GR
1
Copenhagen, DK
1
Geneva, CH
1
Philip L. Wright Zoological Museumlocation not on record
1
64 institutions · 2 364 of 2 454 vouchered records shown · 90 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA16 detections
Where the DNA of Psaltriparus minimus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found16
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 16 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median14.7 °C 10.7–19.0
Seasonal swing summer↔winter6.80 °C
Max temp (day)18.4 °C 14.5–26.4
Min temp (night)7.30 °C 5.50–13.9
Precipitation66.9 mm/mo 3.60–161
Air humidity55.0 % 38.8–68.3
Moisture balance-58.5 mm/mo
Vapour deficit615 Pa 409–1,271
Wind speed2.10 m/s
Cloud cover28.5 % 24.1–35.5
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 16 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation11 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 416 325 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI16 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics16 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
IOC World Bird ListIOCbird checklist↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗