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1 September 2014 First Record of Hybridization in the Hawaiian Honeycreepers: 'I'iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) × 'Apapane (Himatione sanguinea)
Jessie L. Knowlton, David J. Flaspohler, N. C. Rotzel Mcinerney, Robert C. Fleischer
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Abstract

The adaptive radiation of the Hawaiian honeycreepers is the largest ever recorded for birds on an oceanic archipelago. Despite including >50 species in 21 genera, no hybridizations across honeycreeper species have ever been confirmed. Here, we report genetic and morphological analyses that verify the first hybrid between two Hawaiian honeycreeper species: the 'I'iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) and 'Apapane (Himatione sanguinea). This hybridization is notable given that the parental species diverged ∼1.6 mya and show distinct morphological differences. Further, this discovery is important in light of recent evidence that hybridization plays an important role in speciation and genetic diversity in both plants and animals.

2014 by the Wilson Ornithological Society
Jessie L. Knowlton, David J. Flaspohler, N. C. Rotzel Mcinerney, and Robert C. Fleischer "First Record of Hybridization in the Hawaiian Honeycreepers: 'I'iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) × 'Apapane (Himatione sanguinea)," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 126(3), 562-568, (1 September 2014). https://doi.org/10.1676/13-054.1
Received: 2 April 2013; Accepted: 1 April 2014; Published: 1 September 2014
KEYWORDS
454 sequencing
Adaptive radiation
Big Island of Hawaii
Drepanididae
intergeneric hybrid
microsatellites
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