| Lawes's parotia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male above, female below | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Paradisaeidae |
| Genus: | Parotia |
| Species: | P. lawesii
|
| Binomial name | |
| Parotia lawesii E.P. Ramsay, 1885
| |
Lawes's parotia (Parotia lawesii), is a medium-sized (up to 27 cm long) passerine of the bird-of-paradise family, Paradisaeidae. It is distributed and endemic to mountain forests of southeast and eastern Papua New Guinea. Occasionally, the eastern parotia is considered a subspecies of P. lawesii. The species is similar to the western parotia (Parotia sefilata).
Like most birds of paradise, male Lawes's parotia are polygamous. The few eggs that have been studied were about 33 x 24 mm in size, but these were possibly small specimens.[2] It eats mainly fruit, seeds and arthropods.
The bird's home was discovered by Carl Hunstein on a mountain near Port Moresby in 1884. Its name honors the New Guinea pioneer missionary Reverend William George Lawes.
Widespread and common throughout its range, Lawes's parotia is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
- ^ BirdLife International. (2017) [amended version of 2016 assessment]. "Parotia lawesii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T103728331A112747286. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T103728331A112747286.en. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- ^ Mackay (1990).