Ultraviolet plumage reflectance distinguishes sibling bird species

Realistic studies of plumage color need to consider that many birds can see near-UV light, which normal humans cannot perceive. Although previous investigations have revealed that UV-based plumage reflectance is an important component of various intraspecific social signals, the contribution of UV signals to inter-specific divergence and speciation in birds remains largely unexplored. I describe an avian example of an interspecific phenomenon in which related sympatric species that appear similar to humans (sibling species) differ dramatically in the UV. Both UV video images and physical reflectance spectra indicate that the dorsal plumage of the tanager Anisognathus notabilis has a strong UV-limited reflectance band that readily distinguishes this species from its sibling congener Anisognathus flavinuchus. The main human-visible distinction between A. notabilis (olive back) and coexisting A. flavinuchus (black back) also occurs among different geographic populations of A. flavinuchus. Notably, however, olive- and black-backed taxa interbreed (differentiated populations of A. flavinuchus) unless the additional UV distinction is present (A. notabilis vs. A. flavinuchus). Thus, UV-based reflectance can be an essential component of plumage divergence that relates to reproductive isolation, a key attribute of biological species.