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Hybridisation between great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus and clamorous reed warblers A. stentoreus: morphological and molecular evidence.

Hansson, Bengt LU orcid ; Gavrilov, E and Gavrilov, A (2003) In Avian Science 3(2-3). p.145-151
Abstract
We present morphological and molecular evidence of the occurrence of hybrids between great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus and clamorous reed warblers A. stentoreus in Kazakhstan where both species breed. Three males and one female of 249 examined individuals had wing characteristics that were intermediate between the parental species. Molecular analyses of a nuclear microsatellite locus and a mitochondria) gene confirmed that these four individuals were hybrids: genetic material came from both parental species. Three hybrids carried clamorous reed warbler mitochondria and one carried great reed warbler mitochondria. Our finding does not support hypotheses suggesting that hybridisation occurs as a last resort when conspecific mates... (More)
We present morphological and molecular evidence of the occurrence of hybrids between great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus and clamorous reed warblers A. stentoreus in Kazakhstan where both species breed. Three males and one female of 249 examined individuals had wing characteristics that were intermediate between the parental species. Molecular analyses of a nuclear microsatellite locus and a mitochondria) gene confirmed that these four individuals were hybrids: genetic material came from both parental species. Three hybrids carried clamorous reed warbler mitochondria and one carried great reed warbler mitochondria. Our finding does not support hypotheses suggesting that hybridisation occurs as a last resort when conspecific mates are rare, because both species were common in the area. Instead, we suggest that hybridisation might have resulted from mistakes in mate recognition in general and/or that the highly variable song of male great reed warblers might have acted as a supernormal mate choice stimulus for female clamorous reed warblers. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Avian Science
volume
3
issue
2-3
pages
145 - 151
publisher
European Ornithologists' Union
ISSN
1424-8743
project
Long-term study of great reed warblers
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
19170d4d-22da-4cb5-a00b-b5ef999703b6 (old id 153114)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:09:37
date last changed
2021-01-05 14:42:04
@article{19170d4d-22da-4cb5-a00b-b5ef999703b6,
  abstract     = {{We present morphological and molecular evidence of the occurrence of hybrids between great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus and clamorous reed warblers A. stentoreus in Kazakhstan where both species breed. Three males and one female of 249 examined individuals had wing characteristics that were intermediate between the parental species. Molecular analyses of a nuclear microsatellite locus and a mitochondria) gene confirmed that these four individuals were hybrids: genetic material came from both parental species. Three hybrids carried clamorous reed warbler mitochondria and one carried great reed warbler mitochondria. Our finding does not support hypotheses suggesting that hybridisation occurs as a last resort when conspecific mates are rare, because both species were common in the area. Instead, we suggest that hybridisation might have resulted from mistakes in mate recognition in general and/or that the highly variable song of male great reed warblers might have acted as a supernormal mate choice stimulus for female clamorous reed warblers.}},
  author       = {{Hansson, Bengt and Gavrilov, E and Gavrilov, A}},
  issn         = {{1424-8743}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2-3}},
  pages        = {{145--151}},
  publisher    = {{European Ornithologists' Union}},
  series       = {{Avian Science}},
  title        = {{Hybridisation between great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus and clamorous reed warblers A. stentoreus: morphological and molecular evidence.}},
  volume       = {{3}},
  year         = {{2003}},
}