Parotia

Parotia
Lawes's parotia, Parotia lawesii Male above, female below
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Parotia Vieillot, 1816
Species
6; see text.

The parotias are a genus, Parotia, of passerine birds in the bird-of-paradise family Paradisaeidae. They are endemic to New Guinea. They are also known as six-plumed birds of paradise, due to their six head quills. These birds were featured prominently in the BBC series Planet Earth.

The males of the genus are characterized by an ornamental plumage consisting of six wired head plumes with black oval-shaped tips, a neck collar of black, decomposed feathers which can be spread into a skirt-like shape, and bright or iridescent head and throat markings. During courtship, they perform ballerina-like dances and spread out their "skirt" on a patch of forest floor they have meticulously cleaned of dead leaves and other debris.^[1] The "ballerina dances" usually consist of the male hopping from foot and bobbing their heads from side to side. The males are polygamous and do not take part in raising the young. Clutch size is somewhat uncertain; it is usually one to three eggs.^[2]

Species[]

• Western parotia, Parotia sefilata
• Carola's parotia, Parotia carolae
• Bronze parotia, Parotia berlepschi
• Lawes's parotia, Parotia lawesii
• Eastern parotia, Parotia helenae
• Wahnes's parotia, Parotia wahnesi

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parotia.

Wikispecies has information related to Parotia.

• Mackay, Margaret D. (1990): The Egg of Wahnes' Parotia Parotia wahnesi (Paradisaeidae). Emu 90(4): 269.
• Scholes III, Edwin (2008): Evolution of the courtship phenotype in the bird of paradise genus Parotia (Aves: Paradisaeidae): homology, phylogeny, and modularity. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 94: 491–504.

This Paradisaeidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t