Maria's bird-of-paradise

Maria's bird-of-paradise
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Paradisaea
Species:	P. maria
Binomial name
Paradisaea maria Reichenow, 1894
Synonyms
Paradisaea guilielmi × Paradisaea raggiana augustaevictoriae

Maria's bird-of-paradise, also known as Frau Reichenow's bird-of-paradise or Mrs. Reichenow's bird-of-paradise, is a bird in the family Paradisaeidae that is a presumptive hybrid species between an emperor bird-of-paradise and raggiana bird-of-paradise. It was named for the wife of the describer, German ornithologist Anton Reichenow.

Description

Its measurements are largely intermediate between those of the parent taxa.^[1]

History

It was named as a supposed new species in 1894 before being largely accepted as a hybrid in the early 20th century. At least six adult male and one female specimens are known, from Sattelberg and the Finisterre Range of the Huon Peninsula in north-eastern New Guinea. The specimens are held by the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Berlin Natural History Museum.^[1] In 2018, another male specimen was described from the State Natural History Museum, Braunschweig, Germany.^[2]

Notes

1. Frith & Beehler (1998), p.504.
2. Koch, André (2018-05-31). "Discovery of a rare hybrid specimen known as Maria's bird of paradise at the Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum in Braunschweig". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 94 (2): 315–324. doi:10.3897/zse.94.25139. ISSN 1860-0743.

References

• Frith, Clifford B. & Beehler, Bruce M. (1998). The Birds of Paradise. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-854853-9.