Development and cross-species testing of western bluebird (Sialia mexicana) microsatellite primers.

Western and eastern bluebirds (Sialia mexicana and S. sialis) are socially monogamous passerines that engage in extra-pair copulations. We obtained microsatellites from S.

Group sex in the acorn woodpecker.

Family-base societies are frequently faced with the conundrum of balancing the competing reproductive interests of closely related group members. How this is accomplished is the subject of considerable current research, and is epitomized in the complexities of a bizarre species of woodpecker, common in California's oak woodlands.