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Résumé :
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One male Ficedula flycatcher, breeding in southeast Norway, was identified in the field as a putative hybrid between the Pied Flycatcher F. hypoleuca and the Collared Flycatcher F. albicollis due to the presence of a partial neck collar and other intermediate plumage traits. The male and his seven nestlings were genotyped using species-diagnostic genetic markers, along with three positive controls of both flycatcher species. The male only possessed Pied Flycatcher alleles, suggesting that it is a pure Pied Flycatcher but with rare plumage characteristics approaching those of a Collared Flycatcher. Partial neck. collars are also found in other black-and-white flycatcher species; the Semi-collared Flycatcher F. semitorquata (regularly) and the Atlas Flycatcher F. speculigera (occasionally), and have also been reported to occasionally occur among the Iberian subspecies of the Pied Flycatcher (F. h. iberiae). We suggest that a (partial) neck collar may be the ancestral character state of the common ancestor of these black-and-white flycatcher species, and thus that the trait may also occasionally be expressed in populations that normally lack it. Our study demonstrates that species identification based on morphological cues may sometimes be insufficient, even in species that normally possess species-diagnostic plumage characteristics.
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