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Sexual size dimorphism and morphological divergence in the yellow‐whiskered G reenbul ( A ndropadus latirostris ) in the G uineo‐ C ongolian rainforest of Africa
Author(s) -
Dongmo JeanBernard,
DjietoLordon Champlain,
Ngassam Pierre
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
african journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.499
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1365-2028
pISSN - 0141-6707
DOI - 10.1111/aje.12184
Subject(s) - sexual dimorphism , intraspecific competition , biology , zoology , divergence (linguistics) , morphometrics , ecology , philosophy , linguistics
Evidence of sexual dimorphism in body size and the existence of morphological differences were studied in the yellow‐whiskered Greenbul Andropadus latirostris . We measured fresh body weight and seven linear parameters of external morphology in mature individuals of this species from three localities in Cameroon and two localities in Ghana. Based on general linear model analysis, we showed that males are significantly larger than females. We applied a discriminant analysis on eight morphometric parameters to create two discriminant functions, one for each country. The overall rate of well‐classified birds was 93.3% for Cameroon and 92.7% for Ghana. Wing length was the most accurate character for separating the sexes in both study areas. Significant sexual size dimorphism might be explained by sexual selection on male competitive ability and intraspecific competition. We also found morphological divergence in this species between the two study areas, including marked differences in size of the beak. This work provides statistical evidence of a substantial sexual size dimorphism in A. latirostris and geographic variation in morphology.