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Hybridization and cuckoldry between black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

M.G.W. Jones Open the ORCID record for M.G.W. Jones [Opens in a new window] ,
N.M.S. Techow ,
M.M. Risi ,
C.W. Jones Open the ORCID record for C.W. Jones [Opens in a new window] ,
Q.A. Hagens ,
F. Taylor  and
P.G. Ryan Open the ORCID record for P.G. Ryan [Opens in a new window]
M.G.W. Jones*
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
N.M.S. Techow
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
M.M. Risi
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
C.W. Jones
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
Q.A. Hagens
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
F. Taylor
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
P.G. Ryan
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

A vagrant black-browed albatross Thalassarche melanophris bred with a grey-headed albatross T. chrysostoma on Marion Island at least four times between 2000 and 2009 (and continued to return to the colony until at least 2019). The eggs failed to hatch in three breeding attempts, but the pair fledged a chick in the 2006/07 breeding season. Genetic sexing identified the black-browed albatross as female and she shared all eight sampled microsatellite alleles with the chick, whereas the grey-headed albatross social parent did not match the chick. The fledgling was banded and re-sighted in its natal breeding colony in 2016 and 2018, when it displayed an intermediate black-browed x grey-headed albatross phenotype, similar to a putative hybrid photographed at sea off Australia. These results suggest that the black-browed albatross cuckolded its social mate with another grey-headed albatross in 2006/07. The failures of the other three breeding attempts at the egg stage possibly indicate genetic incompatibility with the social partner.

Keywords

extra-pair paternitygenetic compatibilityMarion IslandThalassarche chrysosotomaThalassarche melanophris
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 10 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2019

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