Quantifying shrinkage of morphometric measurements: museum specimens versus livetrapping specimens of little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra) and grey-breasted spiderhunter (Arachnothera modesta)

Frequently, morphometric sexing used museum specimens to derive the morphometric sexing guideline. Over long period of time, these specimens tend to dry, cause shrinkage to the specimens. It is unwise to use directly the morphometric sexing guideline without considering the difference between museums and fresh/live trapping samples that caused by the shrinkage. Morpho-measurement of Little Spiderhunter and Grey Breasted Spiderhunter were used to assess amount of shrinkage occurring in various external body parts. Six of seven morphological characteristics of Little Spiderhunter and two out of seven morphological characteristics of grey-breasted spiderhunter were showed significant different between museum and fresh specimens measurements. The amount of shrinkage was varies, for little spiderhunter, the amount of shrinkage was ranging from 20.34% to 0.16% while for grey-breasted spiderhunter ranging from 11.83% to 0.87%