Zosterops borbonicus and Zosterops pallidus genome sequencing. Zosterops

White-eye (Zosterops) species are typical examples of taxa spanning the whole “grey zone” of speciation. As a consequence of these different degrees of reproductive isolation between taxa, white-eyes have long been used as models to study bird speciation. Among all white-eyes species, one species - the Réunion grey white-eye Zosterops borbonicus - received considerable attention over the last 50 years. This species is endemic from the Reunion volcanic island and has an interesting pattern of microgeographical variation on this island of only about 2,500 km2, with five distinct colour variants distributed over four specific regions. Both plumage color differentiation data and genetic data support this extensive within-island diversification. The present project compasses whole-genome sequencing and transcriptome data from Zosterops borbonicus and a closely related south-american species (Zosterops pallidus).