Logo image
Back
Morphological relationships of passerine birds from Australia and New Guinea in relation to their diets
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Morphological relationships of passerine birds from Australia and New Guinea in relation to their diets

R.D. Wooller and K.C. Richardson
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol.94(2), pp.193-201
1988
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1988.tb00106.x
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

Beak, wing, leg and intestinal lengths, and gizzard widths, were all significantly related to body mass in 51 honeyeater species from Australia, 48 honeyeater species from New Guinea and 31 purely insectivorous passerine bird species from Australia. The nectar-feeding honeyeaters had smaller gizzards and intestines than wholly insectivorous birds of comparable size, although their wing and leg lengths did not differ; New Guinean and Australian honeyeaters were similar in these respects. Overall, honeyeaters had longer beaks than pure insectivores. Among Australian honeyeaters, those genera consuming more nectar than insects had longer beaks than the less nectarivorous, more insectivorous genera. Indeed, the latter group had beaks comparable in length to wholly insectivorous birds. All morphological differences revealed were attributable to known differences in diet.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#13 Climate Action
#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Metrics

67 Record Views
11 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
3.35.33 Avian Ecology
Web Of Science research areas
Zoology
ESI research areas
Plant & Animal Science
Logo image