Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise

Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise
File:BxZ Seleucidis melanoleuca 00a.jpg
Male
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Seleucidis Lesson, 1834
Species:	S. melanoleucus
Binomial name
Seleucidis melanoleucus (Daudin, 1800)

The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise (Seleucidis melanoleucus) is a medium-sized, approximately 33 cm (13 in) long, velvet black and yellow bird-of-paradise. The male has a red iris, long black bill and rich yellow plumes along his flanks. From the rear of these plumes emerge twelve blackish, wire-like filaments, which bend back near their bases to sweep forward over the bird's hindquarters. The female is a brown bird with black-barred buffy underparts. Their feet are strong, large-clawed and pink in color.

The sole representative of the monotypic genus Seleucidis, the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise is a bird of lowland forests. The male displays on an exposed vertical perch with his breast-shield flared. Their diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods in addition to frogs, insects, and nectar.

They are found in flat lowlands and swamp forests, particularly throughout New Guinea and Salawati Island, Indonesia. The twelve-wired bird-of-paradise is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and is listed on Appendix II of CITES. It has not been easy to breed them in captivity. The first successful captive breeding program was at Singapore's Jurong Bird Park, in 2001.

• Seleucidis melanoleucus-20090124.jpg

  Female

• Seleucidis melanoleucus - 20030511.jpg

  A male in Jurong Bird Park

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• Video showing Bird-of-Paradise courting a female Tim Laman. Jayapura Western New Guinea. June 2010.