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1 October 2014 Sexing Monomorphic Western Mountain Greenbuls on Mount Cameroon using Morphometric Measurements
Eric Djomo Nana, Pavel Munclinger, Michal Ferenc, Ondřej Sedláček, Tomás Albrecht, David Hořák
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Abstract

The western mountain greenbul, Andropadus tephrolaemus, is a poorly-known monomorphic forest greenbul. We investigated whether morphological measurements could be used to discriminate between sexes of this species, with a sample of birds captured in two forest types on Mt Cameroon. We used discriminant function analysis based on a combination of traits to develop models to discriminate between sexes. The sex of birds predicted from these models was compared with molecular sexing of the same individuals. Discriminant analysis revealed that a discriminant function incorporating wing length, tail length and bill height allowed 74% of western mountain greenbuls to be sexed correctly based on morphometric measurements alone. Sex ratios varied between montane and lowland forests, with the former having a higher proportion of males (70.5 and 54.6%, respectively), but the difference was not statistically significant. Cloacal sizes did not differ between males and females, and males do not develop large cloacal protuberances while breeding. This is in agreement with low predicted levels of sperm competition in this species. We show that sexing based on morphology has its limitations, but can still provide some insight if DNA analysis is not available.

Eric Djomo Nana, Pavel Munclinger, Michal Ferenc, Ondřej Sedláček, Tomás Albrecht, and David Hořák "Sexing Monomorphic Western Mountain Greenbuls on Mount Cameroon using Morphometric Measurements," African Zoology 49(2), 247-252, (1 October 2014). https://doi.org/10.3377/004.049.0214
Received: 25 April 2014; Accepted: 27 August 2014; Published: 1 October 2014
KEYWORDS
Andropadus tephrolaemus
discriminant function analysis
morphology
sex ratio
tropical Africa
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