Astrapia stephaniae Finsch & Meyer, AB, 1885

Medium-sized astrapia with short, narrow and sharply pointed graduated tail, with central pair of rectrices extraordinarily elongated. Male has entire head, including narial tuft above base of upper mandible, velvety jet-black, intensely iridescent metallic yellowish-green and/or blue and violet-purple and/or magenta in some lights, notably on ear-coverts and on elongate feathers at side of head to nape; velvety jet-black from mantle to uppertail-coverts with "ridescent sheen of bronzed olive-green, lesser upperwing-coverts darkest matt brownish-black edged jet-black, greater coverts and alula brownish-black, flight-feathers blackish-brown; uppertail blackish-brown, central feather pair grossly elongated (more than 1 m) into two cotton-white “ribbons” (c. 2 cm broad), each with 3-4 cm at tip blackish-brow-n. and shaft blackish for terminal quarter; intense metallic yellowish-green throat feathers, tending to slightly scale-like appearance, extending onto upper breast and sharply meeting broad area of velvety jet-black breast feathers with dull iridescent copper-bronze sheen, this bordered below by extensive narrow gorget of iridescent coppery red; remaining underparts iridescent coppery red, broken up by exposed iridescent green bases; vent and undertail-coverts matt brownish-black: Iris dark brown; bill blackish, mouth pale greenish-yellow, legs dark leaden blue-grey. Female is smaller than male (no overlap in lengths of wing and central rectrices), radically different plumage, entire head and nape jet-black with Iridescent metallic bronzed yellowish-green (more so on older individuals) and/or blue in some lights, blue iridescence more obvious on sides of face and lower throat, with mantle and back velvety blackish and (in some lights, rarely) with dark blue and/or violet-purple to magenta sheen; rest of plumage overall drab blackish-brown, but abdomen rufous to buff-brown with fine blackish barring. Juvenile is like adult female but duller, barred ventral plumage less brown, also soft and fluffy; immature like adult female, but wing and tail (excluding central pair) on average longer; first-year like adult female but iridescence duller, subsequently becoming more like adult female with increasing age; subadult male variable, like adult female with few feathers of adult male plumage intruding, to like adult male but with fewfemale*! ike feathers remaining, central pair of rectrices shorter than on adult mnle but remainder of tail significantly longer; with increasing male age central pair of recirices progressively longer as other rectrices become progressively shorter, one male taken into captivity took at least six years to acquire full adult plumage.