Melanin-Based Iridescent Feather Color in the Jungle Crow

Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

Eunok LEE¹  Kazumasa WAKAMATSU²  Hideyuki TANAKA³  Shoei SUGITA¹ 

[1] Laboratory of Function and Morphology, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Utsunomiya University;Department of Chemistry, Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences;Applied Biochemical Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Utsunomiya University

关键词: crow;    feather color;    HPLC;    melanin;   

DOI  :  10.1292/jvms.71.1261

学科分类：兽医学

来源: Japanese Society of Veterinary Science

【 摘 要 】

References(12)Cited-By(1)Sexual differences in Japanese Jungle Crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) are not obvious because both sexes have black plumage. However, closer examination reveals that their plumage color is not only black; it is also iridescent color. Furthermore, the iridescence is more pronounced in adult males than that in females. The iridescence seems to be related to the density and concentration of melanin granules. The density of melanin granule and the concentration of eumelanin in feathers were significantly higher in males than that in females (P<0.01). However, the amount of pheomelanin was below the detection limits in this study.

【 授权许可】

Unknown