Novel Avian Hybrid Zone in Colorado

Regions of secondary contact and hybridization can provide robust opportunities for understanding the process of speciation. Documenting these regions is therefore an important aspect of evolutionary research. Here, we use reduced representation sequencing to characterize hybridization and nuclear differentiation within Troglodytes aedon, the House Wren. We found that there is significant nuclear divergence between the eastern (T. a. aedon) and western (T. a. parkmanii) subspecies, and that they meet in a novel contact zone along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. We also document expansive hybridization, with almost every individual sampled from the state of Colorado being assigned a hybrid genotype. Our results represent the first step in the exploration of the Northern House Wren hybrid zone, and provide many different avenues for continued research,