Gene Flow in the Mullerian Mimicry Ring of a Poisonous Papuan Songbird Clade (Pitohui; Aves).

ABSTRACT: Müllerian mimicry rings are remarkable symbiotic species assemblages in which multiple members share a similar phenotype. However, their evolutionary origin remains poorly understood. Although gene flow among species has been shown to generate mimetic patterns in some Heliconius butterflies, mimicry is believed to be due to true convergence without gene flow in many other cases. We investigated the evolutionary history of multiple members of a passerine mimicry ring in the poisonous Papuan pitohuis. Previous phylogenetic evidence indicates that the aposematic coloration shared by many, but not all, members of this genus is ancestral and has only been retained by members of the mimicry ring. Using a newly assembled genome and thousands of genomic DNA markers, we demonstrate gene flow from t

SUBMITTER: Garg KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6735254 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature