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Evidence for sympatric speciation?

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Abstract

Arising from: M. Barluenga, K. N. Stölting, W. Salzburger, M. Muschick & A. Meyer Nature 439, 719–723 (2006); Barluenga et al. reply

Sympatric speciation is difficult to demonstrate in nature and remains a hotly debated issue. Barluenga et al.1 present a case of putative sympatric speciation for two cichlid species in the Nicaraguan crater lake Apoyo, but they overlook or reinterpret some key published information on the system. Although sympatric speciation is possible in theory2,3, we show here that, when this information is taken into account, the results of Barluenga et al.1 do not provide conclusive evidence for sympatric speciation: this is because the null hypothesis of multiple invasion with introgression cannot be rejected.

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Figure 1: Contrasting information in two identical haplotype networks of Nicaragua cichlids.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, München, 81247, Germany

    U. K. Schliewen

  2. Hubbard Center for Genome Studies, University of New Hampshire, Durham, 03824, New Hampshire, USA

    T. D. Kocher

  3. Appalachian Laboratory, UMCES, Frostburg, 21532, Maryland, USA

    K. R. McKaye

  4. Aquatic Ecology & Evolution, Institute of Zoology, University of Bern, Bern, 3012, Switzerland

    O. Seehausen

  5. EAWAG Ecology Center, Kastanienbaum, 6047, Switzerland

    O. Seehausen

  6. Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, 50674, Germany

    D. Tautz

Authors
  1. U. K. Schliewen
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  2. T. D. Kocher
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  3. K. R. McKaye
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  4. O. Seehausen
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  5. D. Tautz
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Correspondence to U. K. Schliewen.

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Schliewen, U., Kocher, T., McKaye, K. et al. Evidence for sympatric speciation?. Nature 444, E12–E13 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05419

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