Short-tailed Paradigalla
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© William T. Cooper
Fast Facts
Common name
Short-tailed Paradigalla
Scientific name
Paradigalla brevicauda
Etymology
Paradigalla (combination of Paradisaea + Gallus (Latin, jungle fowl); brevicauda (Latin, short tail)
Description
Sexually monomorphic. Adult male,23 cm; adult female, 22 cm. Stocky build, overall black, with bright yellow wattle on forehead and face and light blue on base of lower mandible. Female is duller, more brownish than male and has longer tail.
Diet
Fruit and small animals, including insects, spiders, worms, frogs and skinks.
Habitat
Mid montane forests, including forest edge, secondary growth and garden edges; 1400-2580 m, mainly 1600-2400m.
Courtship
Assumed to be polygynous with males displaying solitarily; display season and courtship unknown.
Breeding
Breeding noted all months except March and November. Female builds cup-shaped nest, often reusing the same one, and attends to nest alone; incubation more than 20 days; nestling period 25 days. No hybridisation is known.
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened; widespread but patchily distributed.
Distribution
New Guinea: Western and central central ranges, from the Weyland Mountains eastward to Mount Karimui and Bismarck Range.
