CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Zenaida auriculata is a granivorous, sedentary, non-migratory dove, which is associated with rural and urban environments. It has alarge distribution in South America, a high reproductive rate and no apparent sexual dimorphism. Although chromatic differences inmale and female plumage have been detected, they are not observable by the human eye. Therefore, the aim of the present study wasto determine the sex of Z. auriculata individuals by morphometry and to test the efficacy of the cloacal morphological sexing, in orderto provide an easy and reliable tool to identify the sex of Z. auriculata individuals in field. We collected 45 individuals from urbanenvironments and measured them using 11 morphometric characters with a Vernier caliper and a metallic ruler; also cloacal sexdetermination was determined by observation of morphological characters inside the cloacal opening. In addition, blood samples of each individual were collected for genetic sex determination by molecular techniques. Sex PCR analysis was carried out using CHD1-Z and CDH1-W set of primers. Morphometric data were compared between sexes by one-way ANOVA, and the percentage ofdimorphism between sexes was determined in each measure. Our results showed that cloacal sex determination in Z. auriculata resultedin an effectiveness greater than 95% with respect to molecular confirmation. On the other hand, seven morphological characters showedsignificant differences (p < 0.05) between sexes being larger in males than in females. The most significant ones were peak width with10.99 % of dimorphism, graduation of the tail with 9.92 % of dimorphism, and wing length with 7.76 % of dimorphism. Resultsdemonstrated that this species has gender morphometric differences and the validity of the cloacal morphological sexing technique,which can be easily performed in the field to reliably determine the sex of Zenaida auriculata. Supported by CyT-UNSL PROICO 2-0516 and FONCYT PICT-201?0595

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