The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise (''Seleucidis melanoleucus'') is a medium-sized, approximately long, velvet black and yellow

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 this ...

. The male has a 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 ...

, long black

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

and rich yellow plumes along his flanks. From the rear of these plumes emerge twelve blackish, wire-like filaments, which bend back near their bases to sweep forward over the bird's hindquarters. The female is a brown bird with black-barred buffy underparts. Their feet are strong, large-clawed and pink in color. The display dance of the twelve-wired bird of paradise is called a ''wire-wipe display'' and it is performed by males to attract females by showing their flank plumes and bare pigmented thighs. Males use their 12 flank plume "wires" to make contact with the female by brushing across the female's face and foreparts. The sole representative of the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus ''Seleucidis'', the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise is a bird of

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

forests. The male displays on an exposed vertical perch with his breast-shield flared. Their diet consists mainly of

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s and arthropods in addition to frogs, insects, and nectar. They are found in flat lowlands and swamp forests, particularly throughout

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and

Salawati Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua (formerly West Papua), Indonesia. Its area is 1,623 km2. Salawati is separated from New Guinea to the southeast by the Sele Strait (a.k.a. Galowa Str ...

Island,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise 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, and 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 ...

. It has not been easy to breed them in captivity. The first successful captive breeding program was at Singapore's

Jurong Bird Park Jurong Bird Park is an aviary and tourist attraction in Jurong, Singapore. The largest such bird park in Asia, it covers an area of on the western slope of Jurong Hill, the highest point in the Jurong region. It is one of the parks managed by ...

, in 2001.

Gallery

File:Seleucidis melanoleucus-20090124.jpg, Female File:Seleucidis melanoleucus - 20030511.jpg, A male in

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Video showing Bird-of-Paradise courting a female
Tim Laman. Jayapura

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

. June 2010. {{Taxonbar, from=Q795568 twelve-wired bird-of-paradise Birds of New Guinea twelve-wired bird-of-paradise