Huang, Ruan. [in press.] DNA barcodes and insights into the phylogenetic relationships of Corvidae (Aves: Passeriformes). Mitoch DNA (A).
[abstract & supp.mat.]
[tree on Figshare] (same as in the supp. mat. of the paper)
If there is no support value next to a given node, this node is not trustworthy. (Even if the text says that it is. At best you might look at it as a hypothesis to be tested with more data; not as a conclusion to be accepted.)Whoa, some real weird stuff here: Cyanopica basal, Pinyon Jay with Pica, Fish Crow more basal in Corvus than jackdaws and Urocissa wedged in the American jays. How trustworthy is this?
David L Slager, Kevin L Epperly, Renee R Ha, Sievert Rohwer, Chris Wood, Caroline Van Hemert, John Klicka. Cryptic and extensive hybridization between ancient lineages of American crows. bioRxiv preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/12/10/491654
Twitter summary thread: https://twitter.com/dlslager/status/1072353359041085440
Seems like good evidence for a lump of Northwestern Crow: "Overall, our results suggest a history of reticulate evolution in American and Northwestern crows, consistent with potentially recurring neutral expansion(s) from Pleistocene glacial refugia followed by lineage fusion(s). "
Also, it's nice to see the term "reticulate evolution" taking the place of the backward-sounding "reverse speciation."
Almost Pythonesque,** one might say...
MJB
**For example, this ornithological gem:
'Bridgekeeper: “What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?”
King Arthur: “What do you mean? An African or a European swallow?”
Bridgekeeper: “I don’t know that. Aaaaaaaaagh!”..'
David L. Slager, Kevin L. Epperly, Renee R. Ha, Sievert Rohwer, Chris Wood, Caroline Van Hemert & John Klicka (2020). Cryptic and extensive hybridization between ancient lineages of American crows. Molecular Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15377
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.15377
Prepare to take NW Crow of your lists...
And if you want to keep it at least for the time being, make sure you've seen one in Alaska, as the Canadian and NW Washington ones are all hybrids . . .David L. Slager, Kevin L. Epperly, Renee R. Ha, Sievert Rohwer, Chris Wood, Caroline Van Hemert & John Klicka (2020). Cryptic and extensive hybridization between ancient lineages of American crows. Molecular Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15377
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.15377
Prepare to take NW Crow of your lists...
This quote from David Slager's Twitter says it all:
"Can't tell these crows apart? No worries, b/c neither can they."