Abstract:
Sugarbirds are a family of two socially-monogamous passerine species endemic to
southern Africa. Cape and Gurney’s Sugarbird (Promerops cafer and P. gurneyi) differ in
abundance, dispersion across their range and in the degree of sexual dimorphism in tail
length, factors that affect breeding systems and potentially genetic diversity. According to
recent data, P. gurneyi are in decline and revision of the species’ IUCN conservation status
to a threatened category may be warranted. It is therefore necessary to understand
genetic diversity and risk of inbreeding in this species. We used six polymorphic
microsatellite markers and one mitochondrial gene (ND2) to compare genetic diversity in
P. cafer from Cape Town and P. gurneyi from Golden Gate Highlands National Park, sites at
the core of each species distribution. We describe novel universal avian primers which
amplify the entire ND2 coding sequence across a broad range of bird orders. We observed
high mitochondrial and microsatellite diversity in both sugarbird populations, with no
detectable inbreeding and large effective population sizes.
