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The ribbon-tailed astrapia, also known as Shaw Mayer's astrapia (''Astrapia mayeri''), is a species of bird-of-paradise.
The ribbon-tailed astrapia is distributed and endemic to subalpine forests in western part of the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. Like many other ornamental birds-of-paradise, the male is polygamous. The ribbon-tailed astrapia is the most recently discovered bird-of-paradise.
The ribbon-tailed astrapia is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. The long tails of male birds add to the threat, being as though the tail makes it difficult for the species to escape from natural predators.
The scientific name commemorates the great naturalist and New Guinea explorer
The ribbon-tailed astrapia is medium-sized, up to 32 cm long (without including the tail of the male, which can be over 1 metre). Male ribbon-tailed astrapia are generally around 125 cm whereas females are around 35 cm. The body of males are velvet black. The male has an
BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1585268 Astrapia Birds of Papua New Guinea Birds described in 1939 Endemic fauna of New Guinea
Fred Shaw Mayer
Frederick William Shaw Mayer MBE (26 September 1899 – 1 September 1989), also well known as "Masta Pisin" or the "Bird Man" in New Guinea, was an Australian ornithologist, aviculturist and zoological collector. He is notable for his work in ...
, who was believed to have discovered the bird in 1938. However, it is now believed that explorer Jack Hides discovered the bird, while Mayer became interested in it later.
Description
The ribbon-tailed astrapia is medium-sized, up to 32 cm long (without including the tail of the male, which can be over 1 metre). Male ribbon-tailed astrapia are generally around 125 cm whereas females are around 35 cm. The body of males are velvet black. The male has an iridescent
Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...
olive green and bronze plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
, and is adorned with ornamental "ball" plume above its bill and two extremely long, ribbon-like white tail feathers. The female has a much duller brown and black body with an iridescent
Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfl ...
head. Unlike males, females do not have the long white tails. Hybrids between this species and the Princess Stephanie's astrapia, in the small area where their ranges overlap, have been named Barnes's astrapia.
One of the most spectacular birds-of-paradise, the male ribbon-tailed astrapia has the longest tail feathers in relation to body size of any bird, over three times the length of its body.
References
External links
BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1585268 Astrapia Birds of Papua New Guinea Birds described in 1939 Endemic fauna of New Guinea