''Chlamydera'' is a genus of

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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

birds in the bowerbird family

Ptilonorhynchidae Bowerbirds () make up the bird family (biology), family Ptilonorhynchidae. They are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour, where males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly coloured objects in an attempt to attract a ...

that are found in Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. The birds in this genus build "avenue-type" bowers which consist of two parallel walls made of vertical sticks and pieces of grass.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Chlamydera'' was introduced in 1837 by the English ornithologist

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...

to accommodate ''Calodera maculata'' Gould, the

spotted bowerbird The spotted bowerbird (''Chlamydera maculata'') is a sedentary, mid-sized passerine found across broad parts of the drier habitats of eastern Australia. The species is known for its remarkable behaviours, like many other bowerbirds (Ptilonorynchi ...

, which is therefore the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

monotypy 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 ...

. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

χλαμυς/''khlamus'' meaning "short cloak" with δερα/''dera'' meaning "neck".

Species

The genus contains five species: * Fawn-breasted bowerbird (''Chlamydera cerviniventris'') * Western bowerbird (''Chlamydera guttata'') * Great bowerbird (''Chlamydera nuchalis'') * Yellow-breasted bowerbird (''Chlamydera lauterbachi'') *

Spotted bowerbird The spotted bowerbird (''Chlamydera maculata'') is a sedentary, mid-sized passerine found across broad parts of the drier habitats of eastern Australia. The species is known for its remarkable behaviours, like many other bowerbirds (Ptilonorynchi ...

(''Chlamydera maculata'')

References

Bird genera Taxa named by John Gould Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{passeri-stub