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1 February 2009 A New Species of the Red Crossbill (Fringillidae: Loxia) from Idaho
Craig W. Benkman, Julie W. Smith, Patrick C. Keenan, Thomas L. Parchman, Leonard Santisteban
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Abstract

The Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra complex) endemic to the South Hills and Albion Mountains in southern Idaho has coevolved in a predator-prey arms race with the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta latifolia). The resulting divergent selection has favored a sedentary, locally adapted crossbill population whose size and vocalizations differ from those of co-occurring Red Crossbills of other call types. It has also led to high levels of reproductive isolation between the “South Hills crossbill” and nomadic taxa with different vocalizations that move in and out of the area yearly. Genetic analyses of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP) indicate that about 5% of the loci in the South Hills Crossbill have diverged in spite of the potentially homogenizing influence of gene flow. Given these differences in genetics, morphology, and behavior, and the high level of reproductive isolation in sympatry with other call types (99% of South Hills Crossbills pair assortatively), we recommend that this crossbill be recognized as a distinct species.

© 2009 by The Cooper Ornithological Society. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/ reprintlnfo.asp.
Craig W. Benkman, Julie W. Smith, Patrick C. Keenan, Thomas L. Parchman, and Leonard Santisteban "A New Species of the Red Crossbill (Fringillidae: Loxia) from Idaho," The Condor 111(1), 169-176, (1 February 2009). https://doi.org/10.1525/cond.2009.080042
Received: 25 September 2008; Accepted: 1 November 2008; Published: 1 February 2009
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