JOURNAL ARTICLE

Sex biases and the scarcity of sex metadata in global herpetology collections.

  • Published In: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2024, v. 142, n. 3. P. 308 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Wainwright, Tara; Trevena, Morwenna; Alewijnse, Sarah R; Campbell, Patrick D; Jones, Marc E H; Streicher, Jeffrey W; Cooper, Natalie 3 of 3

Abstract

This article investigates sex bias and the prevalence of sex data in over 5.9 million amphibian and reptile specimen records from 341 global natural history collections. It finds a slight male bias among sexed specimens—39% female in amphibians and 47% female in reptiles—but reveals that more than 95% of herpetological specimen records lack any sex information, severely limiting their research utility. The study shows that sex ratios vary among taxonomic orders but are minimally influenced by body size, sexual size dimorphism, or collection year. The authors highlight challenges in sexing amphibians and reptiles due to biological and methodological factors and propose that increased training and support for taxonomic specialists could improve sex data recording, thereby enhancing the value of museum collections for sex-based ecological and evolutionary research.

Additional Information

  • Source:Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 2024/07, Vol. 142, Issue 3, p308
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Zoology
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0024-4066
  • DOI:10.1093/biolinnean/blad129
  • Accession Number:178184759
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Biological Journal of the Linnean Society is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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