Lawes's parotia (''Parotia lawesii''), is a medium-sized (up to 27 cm long)
passerine of the
bird-of-paradise family,
Paradisaeidae. It is distributed and
endemic to mountain forests of southeast and eastern
Papua New Guinea. Occasionally, the
eastern parotia 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 (''Parotia sefilata'').
Like most
birds of paradise, male Lawes's parotia are
polygamous. 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 in 1884. Its name honors the New Guinea pioneer
missionary Reverend
William George Lawes
William George Lawes (1 July 1839 – 6 August 1907) was an English-born Congregationalist minister, missionary and public lecturer. He was regarded as an expert on Papua.
Life
Lawes was born in Aldermaston, Berkshire, the son of Richard La ...
.
Widespread and common throughout its range, Lawes's parotia is evaluated as Least Concern on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of
CITES.
Description
The male is a velvet black bird with an erectile silvery white forehead crest, iridescent purple blue nape and golden green breast plumes
[Stavenga (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.
The inside of its mouth is
lime-colored. Adorned with three ornamental spatule head wires from behind of each eye and elongated black flank feathers, that spread
skirt-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 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'' 90(4): 269.
* Scholes III, Edwin (2008): Structure and composition of the courtship phenotype in the bird of paradise Parotia lawesii (Aves: Paradisaeidae). ''
Zoology'' 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'' 278: 2098–2104.
External links
BirdLife Species FactsheetSearch Audio and Video Recordings from the Macaulay Library
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1585280
Parotia
Birds of Papua New Guinea
Birds described in 1885