Wahnes's parotia

Wahnes's parotia

Male, with female behind
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Parotia
Species:	P. wahnesi
Binomial name
*Parotia wahnesi* Rothschild, 1906

Wahnes's parotia (Parotia wahnesi) is a medium-sized passerine of the bird-of-paradise family (Paradisaeidae). This species is distributed and endemic to the mountain forests of Huon Peninsula and Adelbert Mountains, northeast Papua New Guinea. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods.

The name honors the German naturalist Carl Wahnes, who collected in New Guinea.^[2]

Wahnes's parotia is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.^[1] It is listed on Appendix II of CITES; its threat classification is C2a(1). This indicates that less than 10,000 adult birds exist, fragmented into subpopulations of less than 1000, and that they are probably declining.

Description

The male has an iridescent yellow-green breast shield, elongated black plumes, three erectile spatule head wires behind each eye, coppery-bronzed nasal tuft feathers and long, wedge-shaped tail feathers. The female is a rich brown bird with blackish head. It is approximately 43 cm long.

Breeding

Little is known about its life and habits. The male is polygamous and performs a spectacular courtship dance in the forest ground.

The clutch probably contains 1, maybe 2 eggs. These are about 40 x 26 mm and have a pale cream base color. They have a varying pattern of streaks and dots, dense at the large end and very sparse on the other, and consisting of a lower gray and an upper tan layer with some overlap.(Mackay 1990)

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 BirdLife International (2012). "Parotia wahnesi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 356.

Mackay, Margaret D. (1990): The Egg of Wahnes' Parotia Parotia wahnesi (Paradisaeidae). Emu 90(4): 269. PDF fulltext

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wahnes's parotia.

Wikispecies has information related to: Parotia wahnesi

Birds-of-paradise (family: Paradisaeidae)

Genera and species

Genus	Species

Lycocorax	Paradise-crow

Manucodia	Glossy-mantled manucode Jobi manucode Crinkle-collared manucode Curl-crested manucode Trumpet manucode

Paradigalla	Long-tailed paradigalla Short-tailed paradigalla

Astrapia	Arfak astrapia Splendid astrapia Ribbon-tailed astrapia Princess Stephanie's astrapia Huon astrapia

Parotia	Western parotia Queen Carola's parotia Bronze parotia Lawes's parotia Eastern parotia Wahnes's parotia

Pteridophora	King of Saxony bird-of-paradise

Lophorina	Superb bird-of-paradise

Ptiloris	Magnificent riflebird Growling riflebird Paradise riflebird Victoria's riflebird

Epimachus	Black sicklebill Brown sicklebill

Drepanornis	Black-billed sicklebill Pale-billed sicklebill

Cicinnurus	Magnificent bird-of-paradise Wilson's bird-of-paradise King bird-of-paradise

Semioptera	Standardwing

Seleucidis	Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise

Paradisaea	Lesser bird-of-paradise Greater bird-of-paradise Raggiana bird-of-paradise Goldie's bird-of-paradise Red bird-of-paradise Emperor bird-of-paradise Blue bird-of-paradise

Incomplete list of likely hybrid birds-of-paradise