Wing plumage variation and genetic relatedness in the European Black-billed Magpie Pica pica

摘要

Black-billed Magpies possess distinctive patterns of black and white on their flight feathers which have been suggested to be family-specific. Such a phenomenon could potentially provide a simple field-method for recognising related or unrelated offspring. Using a combination of wing plumage patterns and multilocus DNA fingerprinting the relationship between plumage variation and genetic relatedness in the European Black-billed Magpie was investigated. The plumage of nestmates was more similar to each other than to young in other nests. However, extra-pair offspring could not be identified from nestmates through plumage differences. Within brood similarity may be explained by full-siblings sharing plumage characteristics through random inheritance, or through a shared rearing environment. Extra-pair offspring may resemble their half-sibs due to shared maternal plumage characteristics and a common rearing environment.