Loboparadisea sericea
. Basal upper ridge of culmen broadly flattened, gape wide, tail slightly graduated. Male nominate race has bulbous narial wattles (bilaterally bifurcate) and bare skin over mandible bases pale, chalky turquoise-green or yellow; lores and side of face dark brown, crown similar but with coppery-green sheen; nape, mantle and upper back honey-brown with darker feather tips, washed iridescent coppery yellow, lower back and rump pale silky iridescent sulphur-yellow; tail and upperwing and its coverts honey-brown, darker tips on primaries, secondaries and rectrices; malar area and entire underparts silky or glassy sulphur-yellow; thigh feathers dark brown; iris dark brown; bill blackish, mouth dull-coloured (lacking bright pigment); legs blackish. Female is slightly larger than male (uniquely within family), lacks wattles, and has different plumage, dark olive-brown above with cinnamon-brown on exposed wings, and paler, more yellowish-buff, underparts with darker streaking, especially on breast. Juvenile undescribed, possibly briefly grey; first-year immature dark olive-brown above, washed amber on wing and tail, lacking yellow, underparts cinnamon, dark feather edgings on breast forming broad greyish streaking, belly pale greyish; second-year plumage of both sexes like adult female, but darker below and less yellow above; tail of immature male longer than adult's, progressively shorter with age, wattles require at least a year to develop fully, changing from black, to black mottled with turquoise-green, to adult male colour. Race aurora male is fractionally larger than nominate, more so in tail length, and upperparts significantly brighter (paler), more brown-yellow, crown far paler and more greenish, less brown, narial wattle pale blue.
Near-threatened
. Basal upper ridge of culmen broadly flattened, gape wide, tail slightly graduated. Male nominate race has bulbous narial wattles (bilaterally bifurcate) and bare skin over mandible bases pale, chalky turquoise-green or yellow; lores and side of face dark brown, crown similar but with coppery-green sheen; nape, mantle and upper back honey-brown with darker feather tips, washed iridescent coppery yellow, lower back and rump pale silky iridescent sulphur-yellow; tail and upperwing and its coverts honey-brown, darker tips on primaries, secondaries and rectrices; malar area and entire underparts silky or glassy sulphur-yellow; thigh feathers dark brown; iris dark brown; bill blackish, mouth dull-coloured (lacking bright pigment); legs blackish. Female is slightly larger than male (uniquely within family), lacks wattles, and has different plumage, dark olive-brown above with cinnamon-brown on exposed wings, and paler, more yellowish-buff, underparts with darker streaking, especially on breast. Juvenile undescribed, possibly briefly grey; first-year immature dark olive-brown above, washed amber on wing and tail, lacking yellow, underparts cinnamon, dark feather edgings on breast forming broad greyish streaking, belly pale greyish; second-year plumage of both sexes like adult female, but darker below and less yellow above; tail of immature male longer than adult's, progressively shorter with age, wattles require at least a year to develop fully, changing from black, to black mottled with turquoise-green, to adult male colour. Race aurora male is fractionally larger than nominate, more so in tail length, and upperparts significantly brighter (paler), more brown-yellow, crown far paler and more greenish, less brown, narial wattle pale blue.
17 cm; male 50-75 g. fe-male 60-77 g
Taxonomy: Loboparadisea sericea Rothschild, 1896, western New Guinea. This genus and Cnemophilus sometimes united in a separate family, Cnemophilidae. Two poorly defined subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * sericea Rothschild, 1896 - mountains of New Guinea from Weyland Mts E, discontinuously, to at least Victor Emanuel Mts, Kubor Range, Mt Karimui and Soliabeda. * aurora Mayr, 1930 - Herzog Range (E of Watut/Tauri gap) and upper Jimi R, in SE New Guinea.
Interior of middle montane forest; 600-2000 m, mainly above 1200 m.
Little known. Possibly almost exclusively fruits, simple drupes and berries plucked and swallowed whole; one individual had arthropods in stomach. Forages in canopy, lower canopy and upper middle storey, but also frequents lower strata of forest. Singly or in groups of up to ten individuals in fruiting trees or undergrowth.
Males with moderately enlarged gonads in Jun and Aug and greatly enlarged ones May and Oct. Presumed to be polygynous, with solitary promiscuous males; females build and attend nest alone. Nest said to be an open moss structure built in branches in vegetation; clutch reported as 1 egg by local informant. No other information.