List of genetic hybrids

This is a list of genetic hybrids which is limited to well documented cases of animals of differing species able to create hybrid offspring which may or may not be infertile.

Hybrids should not be confused with genetic chimeras, such as that between sheep and goat known as the geep. Wider interspecific hybrids can be made via in vitro fertilization or somatic hybridization, however the resulting cells are not able to develop into a full organism.

The naming of hybrid animals depends on the sex and species of the parents. The father giving the first half of his species' name and the mother the second half of hers. (I.e. a pizzly bear has a polar bear father and grizzly bear mother whereas a grolar bear's parents would be reversed.)

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (November 2024)

Chordate

• Class Chondrichthyes
  • Order Carcharhiniformes
    • Family Carcharhinidae
      • Genus Carcharhinus
        • A group of about 50 hybrids between Australian blacktip shark and the larger common blacktip shark was found by Australia's East Coast in 2012. This is the only known case of hybridization in sharks.^[1]
• Class Actinopterygii
  • Order Acipenseriformes
    • In 2020 hybrids were announced from different families of fish, American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) and Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii). Accidentally created by Hungarian scientists, they are dubbed "sturddlefish."^[2]
  • Order Cichliformes
    • Family Cichlidae
      • Blood parrot cichlid, which is probably created by breeding a redhead cichlid and a Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus) or red devil cichlid (Amphilophus labiatus). It was bred in 1986 in Taiwan.
  • Order Perciformes
    • Family Centrarchidae
      • Subfamily Lepominae
        • Genus Lepomis
          • Greengill sunfish, a hybrid between a bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus).
          • Pumpkinseed x bluegill sunfish, a hybrid between a pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) and a bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus).
• Class Amphibia
  • Order Urodela
    • Family Ambystomatidae
      • Genus Ambystoma
        • In 2007 hybrids of a California tiger salamander and a barred tiger salamander were discovered to be able to survive easier than their parent species.^[3]
• Class Reptilia
  • Order Squamata
    • Suborder Anguimorpha
      • Family Varanidae
        • Genus Varanus
          • Subgenus Varanus
            • Hybrid between Varanus panoptes horni and Varanus gouldii flavirufus.
    • Superfamily Lacertoidea
      • Family Teiidae
        • Hybrid between Aspidoscelis exsanguis and Aspidoscelis inornatus.
    • Infraorder Alethinophidia
      • Family Pythonidae
        • Hybrids between the yellow ball python and the woma python.
        • Hybrids between the ball python and the Borneo short-tailed python.
        • The hybrid Borneo bat eater, between a Burmese python and reticulated python,^[4] can be further hybridized with another reticulated python.
        • Hybrids between Ball python and reticulated python.
        • Genus Python
          • Around 2018, 13 hybrids of Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and Indian pythons (Python molurus) among 400 invasive Burmese pythons studied in South Florida were found by the United States Geological Survey.^[5]
      • Family Boidae
        • Hybrids between Columbian boa and yellow anaconda.
        • Genus Corallus
          • Hybrid between emerald tree boa and Amazon tree boa.
      • Family Colubridae
        • A fertile cross between a king snake and a corn snake. One example is a cross between a California kingsnake and a corn snake called the "jungle corn snake."^[6][7]
        • Genus Lampropeltis
          • A fertile cross between a California kingsnake and Pueblan milk snake is called an "imperial Pueblan milk snake."^[8][7]
          • A fertile cross between a California kingsnake and whitesided black rat snake (Pantherophis obsoletus).^[7][9]
          • L. triangulum
          • A fertile cross between an imperial Pueblan milk snake and Honduran milk snake.^[7]
• Infraorder Gekkota
  • Family Diplodactylidae
    • Hybrid of chahoua gecko and crested gecko.

• • Order Crocodilia
    • Family Crocodylidae
      • Genus Crocodylus
        • Hybridization between the endemic Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) and the widely distributed American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is causing conservation problems for the former species as a threat to its genetic integrity.^[10]
        • Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) have mated with Siamese crocodiles (Crocodylus siamensis) in captivity producing offspring which in many cases have grown over 20 feet (6.1 metres) in length. It is likely that wild hybridization occurred historically in parts of southeast Asia.
  • Order Testudines
    • Suborder Cryptodira
      • Superfamily Chelonioidea
        • Family Cheloniidae
          • A hybrid between a hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta).
      • Superfamily Testudinoidea
        • Family Testudinidae
          • A hybrid between a sulcata tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) and leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis).
        • Family Emydidae
          • Subfamily Deirochelyinae
            • Hybrid between red-eared slider and Ouachita map turtle.
            • Genus Trachemys
              • Species T. scripta
                • The hybrid between a red-eared slider and a yellow-bellied slider.
• Class Mammalia
  • Clade Euungulata
    • Order Perissodactyla
      • Suborder Hippomorpha
        • Family Equidae – Equid hybrids
          • Horses can breed with Przewalski's horse to produce fertile hybrids.
          • Mule, a cross of female horse and a male donkey.
          • Hinny, a cross between a female donkey and a male horse. Mules and hinnies are examples of reciprocal hybrids.
          • Kunga, a cross between a donkey and a Syrian wild ass.
          • Zebroids
            • Zeedonk or zonkey, a zebra/donkey cross.
            • Zorse, a zebra/horse cross
            • Zony or zetland, a zebra/pony cross ("zony" is a generic term; "zetland" is specifically a hybrid of the Shetland pony breed with a zebra)
      • Superfamily Rhinocerotoidea
        • Family Rhinocerotidae
          • Hybrids between black and white rhinoceroses have been recognized.
  • Order Artiodactyla
    • Family Bovidae – Bovid hybrids
      • Subfamily Bovinae
        • Dzo, zo or yakow; a cross between a domestic cow/bull and a yak.
        • Beefalo, a cross of an American bison and a domestic cow. This is a fertile breed; this, along with mitochondrial DNA evidence,^[11] has led bison to occasionally be classified in the genus Bos.
        • Zubron, a hybrid between wisent (European bison) and domestic cow.
        • Yakalo, a hybrid between a bison and a yak.
        • Fertile hybrids between bongos (Tragelaphus eurycerus) and sitatungas (Tragelaphus spekii) have occurred in captivity.^[12]
        • Hybrids between the African buffalo subspecies, the Lake Chad buffalo and African forest buffalo can occur on forest/savannah margins.
        • Wild water buffalo and domestic water buffalo can hybridize freely.
      • Subfamily Caprinae
        • Sheep-goat hybrids, such as the toast of Botswana.
    • Family Camelidae
      • Cama, a cross between a male dromedary and a female llama, also an intergeneric hybrid.
      • Dromedary and Bactrian camels can crossbreed and produce a one large-humped Hybrid camel.
      • Huarizo, a cross between a male llama and a female alpaca.
    • Infraorder Cetacea
      • Family Balaenopteridae
        • Hybrids between blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) have been recorded.
        • At least one hybrids between a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was attributed to marine biologist Michael Poole.^[13]
      • Family Delphinidae
        • Wholphin, a fertile but very rare cross between a false killer whale and a bottlenose dolphin.
        • In 2014, DNA analysis showed the clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) to be a naturally occurring hybrid species descended from the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) and the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba).^[14]
      • Family Monodontidae
        • In 2019, a "Narluga" hybrid of a male beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) and a female narwhal (Monodon monoceros) was confirmed by DNA analysis.^[15]
  • Order Carnivora
    • Infraorder Arctoidea
      • Family Ursidae
        • Ursid hybrids, such as the grizzly-polar bear hybrid, occur between all species except for the giant panda.
    • Suborder Feliformia
      • Family Felidae (see Felid hybrids); various other wild cat crosses are known involving the lynx, bobcat, leopard, serval, etc.
        • Pumapard, a hybrid between a cougar and a leopard.
          • Subfamily Felinae
            • Savannah cats are the hybrid cross between an African serval cat and a domestic cat
            • Bengal cat, a cross between the Asian leopard cat and the domestic cat, one of many hybrids between the domestic cat and wild cat species. The domestic cat, African wild cat and European wildcat may be considered variant populations of the same species (Felis silvestris), making such crosses non-hybrids.
            • Serengeti, a hybrid crossbreed of a Bengal and an Oriental Shorthair.
            • Chausie, a hybrid between a jungle cat and domestic cat.
        • Subfamily Pantherinae
          • Genus Panthera
            • Ligers and tigons (crosses between a lion and a tiger) and other Panthera hybrids such as the lijagulep.
            • Species P. tigris
              • A hybrid between a Bengal tiger and a Siberian tiger is an example of an intra-specific hybrid.
    • Family Canidae
      • Fertile canid hybrids occur between coyotes, wolves, dingoes, jackals and domestic dogs.
      • Hybrids of unknown fertility can occur between South American foxes of the Lycalopex genus and domestic dogs.
    • Family Mustelidae
      • Polecat–ferret hybrids and polecat–mink hybrids.
    • Order Primates
      • Suborder Haplorhini
      • Strepsirrhini
        • Family Lemuridae
          • Black-and-white ruffed lemurs can hybridize with red ruffed lemurs.
    • Suborder Haplorhini
      • Infraorder Simiiformes
        • Family Hominidae
          • Genus Pongo
            • Hybrid orangutan, a hybrid between either three of the orangutan species, a Bornean orangutan, Tapanuli orangutan or Sumatran orangutan.

• • Order Proboscidea
    • Family Elephantidae
      • At Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, a cross between an African elephant (male) and an Asian elephant (female). The male calf was named Motty. It died of intestinal infection after ten days.
• Class Aves
  • Order Strigiformes
    • Family Strigidae
      • Genus Strix
        • Hybrids between spotted owls and barred owls^[16]
  • Order Passeriformes
    • The domestic canary (Serinus canaria var. domesticus, family Fringillidae) has hybridized with other perching birds including the blue-black grassquit (Volatinia jacarina, family Thraupidae), the chestnut-capped blackbird (Agelaius ruficapillus, family Icteridae), and the red fody (Foudia madagascariensis, family Ploceidae). A fertile egg was made from the domestic canary and the chestnut-shouldered petronia (Petronia xanthocollis, family Passeridae) but there has been no mention of hatched hybrids.^[17]
    • The red-crested cardinal (Paroaria coronata, family Thraupidae) has hybridized between the northern cardinal (Cardinalia cardinalis, family Cardinalidae), shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis, family Icteridae), and chestnut-capped blackbird.^[17]
    • The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella, family Emberizidae) has hybridized with the European greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) and the European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), both of the family Fringillidae.
    • The cut-throat (Amadina fasciata, family Estrildidae) has hybridized with the Eurasian linnet (Carduelis cannabina, family Fringillidae) and the orange bishop (Euplectes franciscanus, family Ploceidae).
    • Family Fringillidae
      • Cagebird breeders sometimes breed hybrids between species of finch, such as goldfinch x canary. These birds are known as mules.
  • Order Psittacidae
    • Subfamily Arinae
      • Tribe Arini
        • Numerous macaw hybrids are also known.
  • Order Accipitriformes
    • Family Accipitridae
      • Red kite and black kite: five bred unintentionally at a falconry center in England. (It is reported^{[weasel words]} that the black kite (the male) refused female black kites but mated with two female red kites.)
      • Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) and common black hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus): one and possibly two offspring produced naturally in Sonoma County, California, US.^[18]
  • Order Falconiformes
    • Family Falconidae
      • Genus Falco
        • Hybrids between gyrfalcons and sakers are known
  • Order Anseriformes
    • Family Anatidae
      • The mulard duck, hybrid of the domestic Pekin duck and domesticated Muscovy ducks.
      • Brewer's duck, hybrid of the mallard and gadwall.
      • Genus Anas
        • In Australia, New Zealand and other areas where the Pacific black duck occurs, it is hybridised by the much more aggressive introduced mallard. This is a concern to wildlife authorities throughout the affected area, as it is seen as genetic pollution of the black duck gene pool.
      • Hybrids between Greylag goose (Anser anser) and Canada goose (Branta canadensis).
  • Order Galliformes
    • Gamebird hybrids, hybrids between gamebirds and domestic fowl, including chickens, guineafowl and peafowl, interfamilial hybrids.
    • Family Phasianidae
      • Genus Tetrao
        • Western capercaillies are known to hybridise occasionally with black grouse (these hybrids being known by the German name rackelhahn) and the closely related black-billed capercaillie.

• Class Insecta
  • Order Hymenoptera
    • Family Apidae
      • Genus Apis
        • Killer bees were created in an attempt to breed tamer and more manageable bees. This was done by crossing a European honey bee and an African bee, but instead the offspring became more aggressive and highly defensive bees that have escaped into the wild.^{[dubious – discuss][citation needed]}
  • Order Blattodea
    • Family Rhinotermitidae
      • Genus Coptotermes
        • The Asian termite and Formosan termite are an invasive hybrid in Florida.^[19]
  • Order Lepidoptera
    • Family Nymphalidae
      • Genus: Limenitis
        • The white admiral, Limenitis arthemis, and the viceroy (Limenitis archippus) can breed with each other and produce a hybrid known as a Rubidus
    • Family Pieridae
      • Genus: Colias
        • Colias eurytheme and C. philodice butterflies have enough genetic compatibility to produce viable hybrid offspring. Hybrid speciation may have produced Heliconius butterflies, but that is disputed.^[20]
    • Family Papilionidae
      • Genus Battus
        • The Coeruloaurean swallowtail is a hybrid produced by a Pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) mating with a Goldrim swallowtail (Battus polydamas).^[21] As the ranges of these two species overlap, the hybrid can be encountered in nature.

• Clade Tracheophytes
  • Clade Angiosperms
    • Clade Monocots
      • Clade Commelinids
        • Order Poales
          • Family Poaceae
            • Subfamily Pooideae
              • Supertribe Triticodae
                • Tribe Triticeae
                  • Triticale, a grain crop, came from a cross of wheat (Triticum) and rye (Secale)
    • Clade Eudicots
      • Clade Rosids
        • Order Sapindales
          • Family Sapindaceae
            • In 1994, a hybrid was made between longan (Dimocarpus longana) and lychee (Litchi chinensis)^[22]
• A list of plants that can hybridize under the same genus (Interspecific introgression, allopolyploid origin, and interspecific hybrid origin) can be found here: List of plant hybrids