Dear David Trently: Your credibility among the birding world would be greatly enhanced if you would refrain from posting to TN-Birds on April Fools day. For that matter, mine would also. There was a better report than your "McDonald's" Weaver-Finch going around last April 1. :-) Wallace Coffey Bristol, TN ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Trently" <dtrently@xxxxxxx> To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 7:05 AM Subject: [tn-bird] Interesting magazine article > > On Saturday, I received my May issue of "Avian Nomenclature" magazine and > read a very interesting article. I had been wondering about this > possibility, and it had been discussed a couple years ago on the BirdChat > listserve - we didn't know someone was actually researching it. The article > is titled, "A New Split of an Old Species". It was authored by R. Warren > McDonald and Brooks Jameson, researchers at the College of Trenton. > Over a two year period, they studied the House Sparrow, Passer domesticus. > The question they wanted to answer was, "Since this species has been > separated from its original stock for over 100 years, is it possible it has > evolved far enough away from its parent strain to have become a separate > species?" > The researchers isolated pairs of these Old World finches in cages, 37 male > American House Sparrows and 37 female European ones...and 42 pairs with > European males and American females. Not one of the 79 pairs produced any > offspring!! Only two pairs showed an interest in mating. (3 individuals > died prematurely) > They also did DNA studies to compare the genetics of the two groups. They > found a significant difference in the DNA, enough for them to declare that > these were now two separate species! > Birders who travel to Europe and see the House Sparrow there can now add a > new species to their lists!! The European bird will remain House Sparrow, > Passer domesticus, while our American bird will tentatively become > McDonald's Weaver-Finch, reverting to the 'finch' name, as that is more > correct than 'sparrow', with the scientific name Passer oroarchicus. > So, does that mean we now have on eless exotic bird out there? > > Remember, if you read it on the internet, it has to be true! > > David Trently, > Knoxville, TN > dtrently@xxxxxxx > 4-1-02 > =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== > > The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with > first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. > ----------------------------------------------------- > To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: > tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > ----------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, send email to: > tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society > web site at http://www.tnbirds.org > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN > jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 > ========================================================= > > > =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================