Research Associate Leonardo Campagna published a new study in PLOS ONE analyzing capuchino seedeater data gathered by aviculturists over more than a decade. Capuchino’s are common cage birds in South America and will breed in captivity, or under the right conditions, hybridize. The study compares the viability of F1 capuchino hybrids to that of same species pairings. The hybrids do not seem to be unfit (at least in captivity), but the data show a slight deficit of females among the adults, suggesting that some hybrid females may be inviable (as predicted by Haldane’s rule). However, many hybrids did survive to adulthood and some of the males presented novel plumage patterns.
The paper can be found here:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0199113
Illustration by Jillian Ditner