Distinctive courtship phenotype of the Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-Paradise Lophorina niedda Mayr, 1930 confirms new species status.

ABSTRACT: The birds-of-paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae) are a quintessential example of elaborate ornamental diversification among animals. Ornamental evolution in the birds-of-paradise is exemplified by the presence of a highly integrated courtship phenotype, which is the whole package of plumage ornaments, behaviors and sounds that each species uses during courtship. Characterizing a species' courtship phenotype is therefore a key part of evolutionary and taxonomic investigation in the group. With its unprecedented transmogrification from bird-like form into something abstract and otherworldly, the courtship phenotype of the Superb Bird-of-Paradise, Lophorina superba, is one of the most remarkable of all. Recent research by Irestedt et al. (2017) suggests that the genus Lophorina is not a single spe

SUBMITTER: Scholes E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5907773 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature