Abstract

Most sexually monomorphic species, including the family Corvidae, are visually indistinguishing in field investigations. We investigated intersexaul morphological differences of the Azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus). We caught 86 adults (67 males, 14 females, and 5 unidentified), measured their morphological characteristics (head-bill length, bill length, maximum and minimum wing length, tarsus length, body length, tail length, and weight), and collected blood samples. Sex was determined by PCR amplification using the previously used P2/P8 (Griffiths et al. 1998) primers. Statistical analysis was used to compare morphological differences between sexes. Males were longer in body length and maximum wing length, and discriminant function analysis using the two variables showed the sex was distinguished with an accuracy of 71.7%. We discussed the significance of the two variables in the monomorphic Azure-winged magpies.

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