Hybridization Between the White-browed and Atherton Scrubwrens: Detection With Mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

Data are reported from a survey of restriction fragment length variation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in the White-browed and Atherton Scrubwrens Sericornis frontalis and S. keri, respectively. One S. frontalis individual collected from eucalypt woodland in the region of the Atherton Tablelands, north-east Queensland, had mtDNA identical with that of the rainforest-inhabiting S. keri and divergent (2.8% sequence divergence) from the three other S. frontalis with which it was collected. We conclude that this invidual was descended from a hybridisation event between a female S. keri and a male S. frontalis, though probably not itself a first generation hybrid.