The curl-crested manucode (''Manucodia comrii'') is a species of

bird-of-paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of thi ...

Etymology

The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

zoologist

Philip Lutley Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society o ...

named this species after Dr. Peter Comrie (1832-1882), who discovered the bird on

Fergusson Island Fergusson Island is the largest island of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, in Papua New Guinea. It has an area of , and mostly consists of mountainous regions, covered by rain forests. There are three large volcanoes on the island. Fergusson Island ...

in 1874.

Subspecies

* ''Manucodia comrii comrii'' P. L. Sclater, 1876 —

D'Entrecasteaux Islands D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...

* ''Manucodia comrii trobriandi'' Mayr, 1936 —

Trobriand Islands The Trobriand Islands are a archipelago of coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are in Milne Bay Province. Most of the population of 12,000 indigenous inhabitants live on the main isla ...

(

Kiriwina Kiriwina is the largest of the Trobriand Islands, with an area of 290.5 km². It is part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Most of the 12,000 people who live in the Trobriands live on Kiriwina. The Kilivila language, also known ...

and

Kaileuna Kaileuna is an island in the Trobriand Islands group of Papua New Guinea. With an area of 45.53 km², it is the second-largest island in the group, after Kiriwina. As of the census of the population of 2000, there were 1,908 people living on ...

)

Distribution

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, the curl-crested manucode is distributed to the

and islands of the

D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...

. A common species in its limited habitat range, the curl-crested manucode is evaluated as Least Concern on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

Habitat

These birds mainly live in the upper montane rainforest, forest edges and woodland, but also in the wooded savannah, in parks and gardens.Frith, C. & Frith, D. (2016)
Curl-crested Manucode (Manucodia comrii)
in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona

Description

''Manucodia comrii'' has a compact and large body approximately 43 cm long, with glossy purple, black and green plumage, red

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

and crinkled yellowish-green upper breast and neck feathers. It has curled head feathering and twisted central tail feathers. Both sexes are similar with a slightly smaller female. The curl-crested manucode is the largest species of manucode, and also the largest and heaviest species in its family in terms of body size, weighing up to 450 gramsPerrins, Christopher, ''Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds''. Firefly Books. though its tail is shorter than the

black sicklebill The black sicklebill (''Epimachus fastosus'') is a large member of the birds of paradise family, Paradisaeidae. This species is found throughout most of central New Guinea and the Vogelkop region to the northwest in montane forests at altitud ...

Biology

Although not the most vibrant in appearance, the curl-crest manucode is certainly a vocally evolved species. In most birds, the trachea extends straight from the mouth to the lungs, whereas in this species, it extends towards the lower chest area and coils back through the abdominal cavity and then reaches the lungs, which works like a wind instrument and gives the curl-crested manucode a characteristic mellow, fluting sound which is audible from a considerable distance. These vocalizations are common in courtship displays, where the males follow insistently the females among the vegetation spreading their wings and tail and raising their bodies in a strutting fashion. Manucode pairs also vocalize to defend their territories from invading pairs. These birds have diurnal habits. The diet of ''Manucodia comrii'' consists mainly of ripe fruits, feeding mostly on figs, but also on insects and other small invertebrates. They usually live in pairs or in small groups in a single territory. Breeding season last from June to November, nest-building has been recorded in mid-November and egg-laying occurs in March and in June–October. ''Manucodia comrii'' is a strictly monogamous bird. The couple collaborates in building of a cup-shaped nest on a bifurcation of a branch. Once 1-2 eggs are laid, both sexes hatch the eggs and raise their chicks.

References

* Frith, C. B.; Beehler, B. M. 1998. The birds of paradise. Oxford University Press, Inc., New York * Sibley, C. G.; Monroe, B. L. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA.

External links

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1471944 Manucodia Birds of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands Trobriand Islands Birds described in 1876 Taxa named by Philip Sclater