HYBRIDIZATION BETWEEN THE WHITE-BROWED AND ATHERTON SCRUBWRENS - DETECTION WITH MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA

Data are reported from a survey of restriction fragment length variati on of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in the White-browed and Atherton Scrub wrens Sericornis frontalis and S. keri, respectively. One S. frontalis individual collected from eucalypt woodland in the region of the Athe rton Tablelands, north-east Queensland, had mtDNA identical with that of the rainforest-inhabiting S. keri and divergent (2.8% sequence dive rgence) from the three other S. frontalis with which it was collected. We conclude that this invidual was descended from a hybridisation eve nt between a female S. keri and a male S. frontalis, though probably n ot itself a first generation hybrid.