Description of the unique Parotia lawesii x Paradisaea rudolphi hybrid Bird of Paradise (Aves: Passeriformes: Paradisaeidae)
Abstract
A unique female-plumaged Australian Museum specimen (AM O. 40100) of a hybrid between Lawes' Parotia Parotia lawesii and the Blue Bird of Paradise Paradisaea rudolphi is described, illustrated and compared with female-plumaged specimens of the putative parents. The hybrid, from the Baiyer Valley, Papua New Guinea, exhibits an external morphology intermediate between the two parent species. The informal common name—Schodde's Bird of Paradise—is applied to this new bird of paradise hybrid combination.
