Short-tailed Paradigalla

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.