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Preformative molt in Neotropical Cardinalidae

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Abstract

Neotropical Cardinalidae consists of 40 species in 10 genera that have diversified across the Americas. We provide quantitative information on the preformative molt of 21 Cardinalidae species of seven genera, plus one Thraupidae species placed within Cardinalidae until recently. From 155 preformative molt cards, we calculated molt extent estimates, computed frequencies of molt patterns, and summarized observed frequencies of wing-feather replacement in wing diagrams. We found 17 species with partial preformative molts, four species with eccentric preformative molts (outer but not inner primaries replaced), and one species with a complete preformative molt. Preformative molt extent and patterns were similar within Cardinalidae genera, including genera with Nearctic representatives, such as the complete preformative molt of Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis or the eccentric molt of Passerina buntings. Our results cover an important gap in the knowledge of the natural history of Cardinalidae, generate important criteria to determine the age of Neotropical Cardinalidae, and provide essential information to test hypotheses on the ecology and evolution of molt in this passerine family.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following for assistance and access to specimen collections: Maureen Flannery, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; Carla Cicero, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley; Bentley Bird, American Museum of Natural History, New York; Dr. Javier Quesada, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona; Dr. Adolfo Navarro and M.C. Fanny Rebón, Museo de Zoología Alfonso Herrera; and Dra. Patricia Escalante and M.C. Marco Gurrola, Colección Nacional de Aves, Mexico City. Constructive comments by three anonymous referees helped improve this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. https://museuciencies.cat/area-cientifica/departaments-cientifics/vertebrats/

    Santi Guallar

  2. Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Av. Universidad 3000, Delegación Coyoacán, 04510, México, DF, Mexico

    Rafael Rueda-Hernández

  3. Institute for Bird Populations, Petaluma, CA, USA

    Peter Pyle

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  1. Santi Guallar
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  2. Rafael Rueda-Hernández
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception, data collection, and study design. Analyses were performed by S.G. The first draft of the manuscript was written by S.G., and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Santi Guallar.

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Conflict of interest

R. R-H. received a grant from Dirección General de Asuntos de Personal Académico-UNAM.

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Authors agreed with the content, gave explicit consent to submit the manuscript to Ornithology Research, and obtained consent from the reserves and museums where the data was gathered.

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Communicated by Carla S. Fontana

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Guallar, S., Rueda-Hernández, R. & Pyle, P. Preformative molt in Neotropical Cardinalidae. Ornithol. Res. 28, 250–257 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43388-020-00024-z

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