Comparing morphometric measurements of museum specimen versus live specimen of Flycatchers (Family: Muscicapidae) to quantify their shrinkage.

Flycatchers belong to family Muscicapidae. Most flycatchers are dimorphic and only few possess monomorphic characteristics. Live specimen and museum specimen were used in this study to compare the shrinkage of body part in museum specimen. This study was designed to identify the shrinkage problem of the external morphological characteristics between the live and museum specimen. Eight external morphological parameters of flycatchers were measured. All the statistical data were analysed using SPSS software using independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. The parameters that found significantly difference in shrinkage were total length and wing length for C. ceylonensis, tarsus and total length for R. umbratilis and tarsus, total length, tail and head bill for F. dumetoria. Overall, all the three species showed shrinkage in length but only certain body parts revealed significant difference of shrinkage between the two group samples