Ornithologist Wulf Gatter spent six days a calendar week detect fowl in the forest of Liberia , the West African country . He recognize one seen nowhere else , a intermediate - sized chickenhearted songster , on nine occasion during the county ’s annual ironic season go from November to February . It depend quite alike to another species , but had never - before - seen blank scoring on its backstage . He at long last captured a specimen towards the end of his visit in 1984 — it seemed like he ’d establish a whole new specie , which he named Phyllastrephus leucolepis , the Liberian Greenbul .
civic state of war in 1989 and 2003 made further visit to the forests out of the question . Scientists finally returned in 2010 and again in 2013 , but could not incur another one of Gatter ’s Greenbuls — all they had was his one sample , waiting in Germany ’s Museum Alexander Koenig . Was the Liberian Greenbul truly a new species , or simply a variant of the more common Icterine Greenbul , Phyllastrephus icterinus ? DNA advances have finally allowed scientist to analyse the shuttlecock and find out its true identity .
“ I wroteBirds of Liberia , and journey all over in Libera and did n’t find it . That was my reason for my decision to ask medical specialist to prove it , ” Gatter say Gizmodo .
alas , a genetic analysis “ go us to the conclusion that the Liberian Greenbul is most potential a feather variant of the Icterine Greenbul , ” harmonise tothe paperpublished over the summertime in the Journal of Ornithology .
Scientists took DNA from the Liberian Greenbul ’s toepads , handled carefully to forefend contaminant , and ran received genetic sequencing tools on it . They determined appropriate marking and equate them to DNA from Icterine Greenbuls gain in Liberia and Congo . Despite Gatter ’s sampling ’s unusual feather , the DNA was about superposable .
The scientist only have one specimen to work from , so it ’s hard to make a definitive conclusion . Still , they compose , “ Our information point powerfully to the likeliness that Liberian Greenbul represents a plumage variety of Icterine Greenbul . ”
“ I ’m quite disappointed , ” Gatter tell Gizmodo . He notice different behavior between this bird and the Icterine Greenbul , and their differing appearances are obvious . “ I do n’t understand how the birdie could look so different from the normal birdie . ”
Still , the results have offer some closure . aver Gatter : “ I ’m happy DNA evidence exist now . ”
[ Journal of Ornithology ]
AfricaBirdsOrnithologyScience
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