Lawes's parotia (''Parotia lawesii''), is a medium-sized (up to 27 cm long)

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

of the

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 ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Paradisaeidae 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 this ...

. It is distributed and

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 ...

to mountain forests of southeast and eastern

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 ...

. Occasionally, the

eastern parotia The eastern parotia (''Parotia helenae''), also known as Helena's parotia, is a medium-sized passerine of the bird-of-paradise family, Paradisaeidae, endemic to mountain forests of the Bird's Tail Peninsula (Papua New Guinea). It is approximatel ...

is considered a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''P. lawesii''. The species is similar to the

western parotia The western or Arfak parotia (''Parotia sefilata'') is a medium-sized, approximately 33 cm long, bird-of-paradise with a medium-length tail. Parotia comes from the Greek ''parotis'', a lock or curl of hair by the ear, alluding to the head wi ...

(''Parotia sefilata''). Like most

birds 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 this ...

, male Lawes's parotia are

polygamous Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

. The few eggs that have been studied were about 33 x 24 mm in size, but these were possibly small specimens. It eats mainly fruit, seeds and

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

. The bird's home was discovered by

Carl Hunstein Carl Hunstein (1843 – March 13, 1888) was a German ornithologist and plant collector. Hunstein was born in Homberg, Germany. He emigrated to America, then relocated to New Zealand. From 1885 until his death, he was employed by the German New ...

on a mountain near

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

in 1884. Its name honors the New Guinea pioneer

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

Reverend William George Lawes. Widespread and common throughout its range, Lawes's parotia 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 ...

Description

The male is a velvet black bird with an erectile silvery white forehead crest, iridescent purple blue nape and golden green breast plumesStavenga (2010). which are structurally colored. The breast plumes have V-shaped barbules, creating thin-film microstructures that strongly reflect two different colors, bright blue-green and orange-yellow. When the bird moves the color switches sharply between these two colors, rather than drifting iridescently. During courtship, the male bird systematically makes small movements to attract females, so the structures must have evolved through

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of t ...

. The inside of its mouth is

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

-colored. Adorned with three ornamental spatule head wires from behind of each eye and elongated black flank feathers, that spread

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are fi ...

-like in courtship display.Scholes (2008). The female is a brown bird with dark head, yellow iris and dark-barred yellowish brown below. The

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 ...

is colored in various amounts of blue and yellow, changing according to the bird's mood.

References

Sources

* Mackay, Margaret D. (1990)
The Egg of Wahnes' Parotia ''Parotia wahnesi'' (Paradisaeidae)
''

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

'' 90(4): 269. * Scholes III, Edwin (2008): Structure and composition of the courtship phenotype in the bird of paradise Parotia lawesii (Aves: Paradisaeidae). ''

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

'' 111(2008):260-278. * Stavenga, Doekele G.; et al. (2010): Dramatic colour changes in a bird of paradise caused by uniquely structured breast feather barbules. ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society B ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...

'' 278: 2098–2104.

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Search Audio and Video Recordings from the Macaulay Library
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1585280 Parotia Birds of Papua New Guinea Birds described in 1885