Aim: To examine the history of diversification of ‘blue’ cardinalids (Cardinalidae) across North and South America. Location: North America (including Middle America) and South America. Methods: We collected 163 individuals of the 14 species of blue cardinalids and generated multilocus sequence data (3193 base pairs from one mitochondrial and three nuclear genes) to infer phylogeographical structure and reconstruct time-calibrated species trees. We then estimated the ancestral range at each divergence event and tested for temporal...