Hybridization in the Anatidae and Its Taxonomic Implications

Johnsgard, Paul A.

doi:10.2307/1365656

Cited by 88 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Bird egg whites, sera, and tissue extracts were obtained, prepared, and stored as described (10 Table 1 gives further details regarding the classification of the species examined. This constituted a representative sample of hybridizable species pairs, since more than half of all reported cases of avian interspecific hybrids occur within the orders Anseriformes and Galliformes (11)(12)(13). We prepared antisera (see below) to albumin from six species and to transferrin from five species and made immunological comparisons of the proteins of 36 different avian species pairs capable of interspecific hybridization.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow evolutionary loss of the potential for interspecific hybridization in birds: a manifestation of slow regulatory evolution.

Prager¹,

Wilson²

1975

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

223

161

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Birds have lost the potential for interspecific hybridization slowly. This inference emerges from protein comparisons made on 36 pairs of bird species capable of hybridization. Micro-complement fixation tests show that hybridizable pairs of bird species differ by an average of 12 units of albumin immunological distance and 25 units of transferrin immunological distance. As these proteins evolve at a known and rather steady rate, it is inferred that the average hybridizable species pair diverged from a common ancestor about 22 million years ago. The corresponding period for frog species pairs capable of hybridization is about 21 million years, while for hybridizable placental mammals it is only 2 to 3 million years. Thus birds resemble frogs in having lost the potential for interspecific hybridization about 10 times as slowly as have mammals.Birds have also been evolving very slowly at the anatomical level, particularly within the last 25 million years, according to Simpson, Romer, and many other vertebrate zoologists. In this respect they resemble frogs and differ from placental mammals, which have been undergoing unusually rapid anatomical evolution. Chromosomal evolution is also thought to have proceeded very slowly in both birds and frogs, relative to mammals.The above observations are consistent with the hypothesis that evolutionary changes in regulatory systems, that is, changes in the patterns of gene expression, provide the basis for both anatomical evolution and the evolutionary loss of hybridization potential.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slow evolutionary loss of the potential for interspecific hybridization in birds: a manifestation of slow regulatory evolution.

Prager¹,

Wilson²

1975

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

223

161

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“…This represents the first documented case of interspecific pair-bonding and out-crossing of the Bufflehead with the Common Goldeneye (Johnsgard 1960(Johnsgard , 1965Bellrose 1976;Gauthier 1993;Gillham and Gillham 2002). Hybridization of the Common Goldeneye has been reported with Barrow's Goldeneye, White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca), Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) and Hooded Merganser, and Smew (Johnsgard 1965).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…However, because they are so similar and there is such fierce competition with goldeneyes, one would expect such animosity to suppress mutual attraction. Furthermore, although hybridization occurs much more frequently amongst waterfowl than any other family (Johnsgard 1960;Tubaro and Lijtmaer 2002) and monogamy tends to be the family rule, Mayr (1942) found that hybrids occurred much more rarely among monogamous species. And Buffleheads are strongly monogamous, with a ritualized courtship display very different from that of the Common Goldeneye.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific Mate Choice and Hybridism in the Bufflehead, <em>Bucephala albeola</em>

Finley¹,

Huot²

2010

Can Field Nat

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Observations of a male Bufflehead (Bucephela albeola) paired with a female Common Goldeneye (Bucephela clangula) in northern Alberta in 1995 and of a hybrid male Common Goldeneye × Bufflehead photographed near Victoria, British Columbia, in March 2009 provide the first combined evidence of interspecific mate choice and out-crossing in Bucephala albeola. Since 1999, there have been at least 10 unofficial records, including photographs, of Common Goldeneye × Bufflehead hybrids posted on the Internet, as well as 6 records of hybridization with Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus). In all cases, where evident in Common Goldeneye × Buffleheads, gold eyes and pink feet were expressed and social affiliation was with Common Goldeneyes, suggesting matrilineage with that species. Because most attention is given to the hybrid - and to male hybrids at that - rather than to the progenitors, the theory of mate attraction, through sexual imprinting of males, is biased toward the paternal viewpoint. It appears that there is more plasticity in mate choice, particularly by the female. The opportunity to observe mate choice is much rarer than the hybrid outcome, while the odds of the latter have increased many fold in the last decade due to advances in Internet communication and digital photography. This exercise illustrates the ability of the Internet to amplify the prevalence of rare phenomena many fold over historical records.

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“…Examples of such variation caused by hybridization have been occasionally reported in waterfowl (Johnsgard 1960(Johnsgard , 1965McCarthy 2006). Gender-related anomalies, such as gynandromorphism and intersex, are also accompanied by unusual plumages or abnormal external features (Witschi 1961).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

A study on the Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) females with masculinized plumage: their prevalence, morphological and behavioral traits, and reproductive organs

Chibá

Honma²

2011

J Ornithol

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We report here on the prevalence, morphological and behavioral traits, and gonadal condition of anomalous Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) females found at the Hyo-ko Waterfowl Park in Niigata, Japan. A total of 15 anomalous birds were banded and examined; these had variably masculinized plumages that could be tentatively classified into three phases: A (extensively masculinized), B (moderately masculinized), and C (partially masculinized). Unbanded birds with the same external features were also found at the same location. Based on these birds and data from a previous study, the prevalence of anomalous birds at the study site during the past 10 winters (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) was 0.01-0.18% (mean 0.07%) of the local population per winter, or approximately 3,800-8,500 individuals. Anatomical examination of the eight birds sacrificed showed that their ovary had remarkably degenerated, although their oviduct and syrinx were morphologically normal; two of these were\1 year of age, and the others were adults of unknown age. No such degeneration was seen in the ovary of controls, even those of a considerable age ([8 years old). Long-term observation of one of the focal birds showed that the external masculinization had commenced at a certain adult stage, progressing slowly thereafter. In term of behaviors, these anomalous birds were sexually inactive, although one of them showed temporarily and exceptionally the burping behavior, which is a male-type courtship display. We consider that all of these masculinized traits seen in the Northern Pintail females were caused by spontaneous ovarian degeneration after sex differentiation.

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Hybridization in the Anatidae and Its Taxonomic Implications

Cited by 88 publications

References 2 publications

Slow evolutionary loss of the potential for interspecific hybridization in birds: a manifestation of slow regulatory evolution.

Slow evolutionary loss of the potential for interspecific hybridization in birds: a manifestation of slow regulatory evolution.

Interspecific Mate Choice and Hybridism in the Bufflehead, <em>Bucephala albeola</em>

A study on the Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) females with masculinized plumage: their prevalence, morphological and behavioral traits, and reproductive organs

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