ABSTRACT
An erythrocyte is a somatic cell and is frequently used to establish the C-value of an individual’s cells. To become familiar with the realm of avian C-values it is first recalled that birds have small erythrocytes, in fact the smallest red cells among all inframammalian vertebrates. Thus, avian erythrocytes are small, have a correspondingly small nucleus, have a small amount of nuclear DNA and consequently have a low C-value. In the specific attempt to address the C-value of avian erythrocytes it is useful to underscore latter worker’s conclusion “that a single overarching solution to the problem of genome size in evolution does not exist”. Genome size is both lower and more uniform in birds than other tetrapods. Ivan Vinogradov’s analyses have shown that the resting metabolic rate of passerines is negatively correlated with genome size when body mass is held constant.
