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Geographical variation in the skeletal morphology of red jungle fowl |
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| Authors: | H Endo N Tsunekawa M Sonoe T? Sasaki H Ogawa T Amano |
| Institution: | 1. The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan??hendo@um.u-tokyo.ac.jp;3. Department of Bioscience in Daily Life, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Kanagawa, Japan??;4. Department of International Development Studies, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Kanagawa, Japan;5. Laboratory of Wild Animals, Department of Human and Animal-Plant Relationships, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Kanagawa, Japan;6. Faculty of Animal Health Technology, Yamazaki Gakuen University, Tokyo, Japan |
| Abstract: | 1. The skulls and postcranial skeletons of the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) were compared osteometrically between the populations from North and South Vietnam, North and Central Laos and Southeast Bangladesh. The populations include the three subspecies of G. g. spadiceus, G. g. gallus and G. g. murghi and were sampled to reveal the geographical morphological variations among populations in G. gallus. 2. The morphometric characteristics of subspecies murghi could be clearly distinguished from those of the other subspecies using a canonical discriminant analysis. However, the size and shape of the skull of the gallus population from South Vietnam were not statistically different from that of the subspecies spadiceus from North Laos. The canonical discriminant scores also clearly indicated that there were morphological similarities in the skulls of the populations from North Laos and South Vietnam. 3. From the results, therefore, it is concluded that red jungle fowls do not exhibit high levels of osteometric variation between geographical localities at least within the Indochinese Peninsula. 4. This contrasts with previous studies which have described these subspecies as having various external morphological differences and have argued that zoogeographical barriers exist between the north and south areas of the Indochinese Peninsula. |
| Keywords: | geographical variation osteometry red jungle fowl skeleton skull |