How carrion and hooded crows defeat Linnaeus's curse

摘要

Ever since the carrion crow (Corvus corone) and the hooded crow (Corvus cornix) were described by Linnaeus as two species in 1758 (1), their taxo-nomic status has been debated. These two phenotypically distinct crow taxa have a Palearctic breeding distribution with two stable zones of hybridization, one of which runs roughly north to south through central Europe (2) (see the figure). Primarily based on lack of complete reproductive isolation and because of genome-wide genetic homogeneity, they are often considered to represent two subspecies of the carrion crow (3,4).