Morphological variation of mountain blackeye (Chlorocharis emiliae) populations in Malaysian Borneo
The mountain blackeye (Chlorocharis emiliae) is one of the few Bornean endemic birds which presents an excellent model species to illustrate evolution and speciation. Here, we use discriminant function analysis to elucidate the morphological variation on 40 specimens of mountain blackeye from four...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2012
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7402/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7402/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7402/1/41_1_1.pdf |
| Summary: | The mountain blackeye (Chlorocharis emiliae) is one of the few Bornean endemic birds which presents an excellent model
species to illustrate evolution and speciation. Here, we use discriminant function analysis to elucidate the morphological
variation on 40 specimens of mountain blackeye from four populations namely Mount Kinabalu, Mount Trus Madi, Mount
Murud and Mount Mulu. The test successfully distinguished all four populations accordingly by respective nominated
subspecies. Tarsus length and bill length were identified as the best predictors from nine character loadings observed which
also included bill depth, bill width, head bill, wing length, wing span, tail length and total length. Along with this, the
morphological patterns also revealed that solid skeletal characters such as bill length, bill depth, bill width and tarsus are
genuine predictors of morphological variation and body size within species as compared to feather-based characters. The
evolution of such morphological traits is more pronounced due to different ecological adaptation of the mountain blackeye
populations. Several factors such as phenotypic plasticity, foraging behaviours and food availability may have influenced the
morphological variation between the subspecies. |
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