A colorful legacy of hybridization in wood-warblers includes frequent sharing of carotenoid genes among species and genera

Introgression between species has the potential to shape evolutionary trajectories in important ways, but uncovering complex introgression dynamics has only recently been made possible by advances in genomics. Warblers of the avian family Parulidae exemplify rapid diversification and sexual trait divergence, and we endeavored to study historical introgression in the family. We sequenced multiple genomes of nearly every species, constructed a phylogeny for the family, and investigated gene flow across the genome and at genes known for controlling feather color. We found that DNA haplotypes including the gene BCO2 , which encodes an enzyme that degrades yellow carotenoids, have spread among genera multiple times—from Vermivora to Geothlypis and from Leiothlypis to multiple Cardellina and Setophaga species. Patterns of inheritance in the latter case point to introgression that occurred 0.5 to 2 million years ago, and the shared haplotype among recipient species is less than 100 nucleotides long. Separately, we found evidence of introgression from red Cardellina species to both of the two red Myioborus species at BDH1L and from one red Myioborus species to the other at CYP2J19 ; both are key genes in the pathway that converts yellow carotenoids to red ketocarotenoids. Our results show that introgression is a common mechanism for the evolution of colorful plumage in parulid warblers and hint at complex histories of gene flow behind some of the Western Hemisphere’s most colorful birds.