An Intergeneric Hybrid Between Historically Isolated Temperate and Tropical Jays Following Recent Range Expansion

Abstract

Shifts in species' ranges are creating novel ecosystems and previously unobserved species interactions. Documenting and understanding these novel interactions between species is an emergent priority of global ecological importance. We report a wild hybridization resulting from recent range expansion: a hybrid between Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas) and Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), charismatic and historically allopatric species whose ranges newly overlap in Texas. Morphological and genetic evidence indicate the hybrid individual resulted from the pairing of a female Green Jay and a male Blue Jay. Hybridization between these species is remarkable across vertebrate species, as such events typically occur between recently diverged populations, whereas the most recent common ancestor to Blue and Green Jays is estimated to have lived at least 7 million years ago. We believe this hybridization event joins a growing list of increasingly unexpected outcomes of contemporaneous range expansions fueled by anthropogenic global change. As birds are keystone species in ecological webs and reservoirs for zoonotic diseases, the creation of unique genomic contexts resulting from climate-driven hybridization is a phenomenon of both scientific and practical importance.