Rapid song divergence leads to discordance between genetic distance and phenotypic characters important in reproductive isolation.

ABSTRACT: The criteria for species delimitation in birds have long been debated, and several recent studies have proposed new methods for such delimitation. On one side, there is a large consensus of investigators who believe that the only evidence that can be used to delimit species is molecular phylogenetics, and with increasing numbers of markers to gain better support, whereas on the other, there are investigators adopting alternative approaches based largely on phenotypic differences, including in morphology and communication signals. Yet, these methods have little to say about rapid differentiation in specific traits shown to be important in reproductive isolation. Here, we examine variation in phenotypic (morphology, plumage, and song) and genotypic (mitochondrial and nuclear DNA) traits amon

SUBMITTER: Nwankwo EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5756877 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature