Open AccessAsymmetric allelic introgression across a hybrid zone of the coal tit ( Periparus ater ) in the central Himalayas *
Author(s) -
Wolfgramm Hannes,
Martens Jochen,
Töpfer Till,
Vamberger Melita,
Pathak Abhinaya,
Stuckas Heiko,
Päckert Martin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.8369
Subject(s) - cline (biology) , hybrid zone , introgression , biology , parapatric speciation , population , vicariance , range (aeronautics) , evolutionary biology , microsatellite , ecology , allele , zoology , gene flow , genetic variation , phylogeography , genetics , phylogenetics , gene , demography , materials science , sociology , composite material
In the Himalayas, a number of secondary contact zones have been described for vicariant vertebrate taxa. However, analyses of genetic divergence and admixture are missing for most of these examples. In this study, we provide a population genetic analysis for the coal tit ( Periparus ater ) hybrid zone in Nepal. Intermediate phenotypes between the distinctive western “spot‐winged tit” ( P. a. melanolophus ) and Eastern Himalayan coal tits ( P. a. aemodius ) occur across a narrow range of <100 km in western Nepal. As a peculiarity, another distinctive cinnamon‐bellied form is known from a single population so far. Genetic admixture of western and eastern mitochondrial lineages was restricted to the narrow zone of phenotypically intermediate populations. The cline width was estimated 46 km only with a center close to the population of the cinnamon‐bellied phenotype. In contrast, allelic introgression of microsatellite loci was asymmetrical from eastern P. a. aemodius into far western populations of phenotypic P. a. melanolophus but not vice versa. Accordingly, the microsatellite cline was about 3.7 times wider than the mitochondrial one.