Rare hybrid solves "genetic problem" of linked plumage traits.

Keywords: Agouti signaling protein (ASIP); hybrid zone; pigmentation; speciation; Vermivora; wood warblers EN Agouti signaling protein (ASIP) hybrid zone pigmentation speciation Vermivora wood warblers 1 5 5 10/05/21 20211001 NES 211001 We study hybrids, in part, because they are broken. In I Vermivora i hybrids, plumage scores are closely correlated with genetic scores of admixture (Toews et al 2016), so the mismatched hybrid is not likely an early-generation hybrid, but likely a result of multiple generations of backcrossing into Golden-winged Warblers. The mismatched hybrid exhibits a plumage score of 35, where the maximum score (38) represents the Golden-winged Warbler plumage phenotype and the minimum score (0) represents the Blue-winged Warbler plumage phenotype. [Extracted from the article]