March 6, 2018

Common raven (Corvus corax) (Photo National Park Service)

An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” brings evidence of an speciation reversal in two lineages of the species common raven (Corvus corax). A team of researchers examined genomic data from hundreds of ravens collected in North America in a study begun in 1999 concluding that this species diversified into three genetically distinct groups: the species Chihuahua raven (Corvus cryptoleucus) emerged from one of them but two of them are collapsing into one by a hybridization process.