. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club. Julian P. Hume 149 Bull. 2002 122(2) long period, it appears that gloss retention may occur just as readily as gloss reduction and therefore cannot be diagnostic of isolated or relict populations. Sexual dimorphism The sexes of most species of Aplonis are similar, but sexual dimorphism does occur in four species. Size differentiation (smaller females) and/or female plumage patterns are distinct in Norfolk and Lord Howe Island Starlings , Micronesian Starling A opaca, and Striated Starling A striata. Less distinct dimorphism occurs in
. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club. Julian P. Hume 149 Bull. 2002 122(2) long period, it appears that gloss retention may occur just as readily as gloss reduction and therefore cannot be diagnostic of isolated or relict populations. Sexual dimorphism The sexes of most species of Aplonis are similar, but sexual dimorphism does occur in four species. Size differentiation (smaller females) and/or female plumage patterns are distinct in Norfolk and Lord Howe Island Starlings , Micronesian Starling A opaca, and Striated Starling A striata. Less distinct dimorphism occurs in the White- eyed Starling A. brunneicapilla, with females being less glossy and smaller. Kittlitz (1835) mentioned female A. corvina as being smaller and less glossy in his field notes. Unfortunately, as the original labels for the sexed Leiden specimens are missing, and Kittlitz never sexed the St. Petersburg specimens, any sexually dimorphic characteristics must be approached with caution, especially as the Leiden juvenile female is larger than the adult male in wing, bill and tarsus length. Bill morphology Bill morphology varies in the genus from small and pointed (Pohnpei Mountain Starling A pelzelni, Mysterious Starling A mavornata) through broad (Yellow-eyed Starling A. mystacea), to large and heavy (Samoan Starling A. atrifusca, Kosrae Starling A. corvina). However, distributional groupings of Aplonis have little in common (Fig. 3). As the largest bills belong to Samoan Starling and Kosrae Starling,. Figure 3. The distribution of the genus Aplonis and the bill morphology of the 24 species. Original distribution map from Feare & Craig (2000); drawings of heads by the author. Refer to Table 1 for key to numbered Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original British Ornithologists Club. O
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