Hi all
Some might ask, why mtDNA? The mtDNA molecule is found throughout living creatures, and is remarkably similar, but has distinctions that make it a useful tool for identifying species and often subspecies. The technique is by no means perfect nor is it universally accepted as accurate. It was used very early on because it is a relatively cheap way of looking at a DNA code

> If one were to specify the properties desired of an ideal molecular system for phylogenetic analysis, the wish list might include the following. The mole­cule should: (a) be distinctive, yet ubiquitously distributed, so that secure homologous comparisons could be made among a wide variety of organisms; (b) be easy to isolate and assay; (c) have a simple genetic structure lacking complicating features such as repetitive DNA, transposable elements, pseudogenes, and introns; (d) exhibit a straightforward mode of genetic transmission, without recombination or other genetic rearrangements; (e) provide suites of qualitative character states whose phylogenetic interrelationships could be inferred by reasonable parsimony criteria; and, for purposes of microevolutionary analysis, (f) evolve at a rapid pace such that new character states commonly arise within the lifespan of a species. To a remarkable degree, the mitochondrial DNA of higher animals meets all of the above criteria. 

Avise, John C., et al. "Intraspecific phylogeography: the mitochondrial DNA bridge between population genetics and systematics." Annual review of ecology and systematics 18.1 (1987): 489-522.

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