Description

COMMENTS: Rothschild had the single specimen when he named this form. Because van Renesse van Duivenbode was careless in recording locality data for specimens he sold, and in several cases, including this one, specimens matched those collected later in the Weyland Mountains, the assumption has been that he had people working for him in those mountains (see Amblyornis inornatus mayri and Loboparadisea sericea above). Cracraft (1992: 21) considered A. splendidissima a phylogenetic species, with forms helios and elliotsmithorum synonyms. Frith and Beehler (1998: 254 – 255) and Frith and Frith (2009 b: 467) considered A. splendidissima polytypic, recognizing A. s. helios with elliotsmithorum a synonym.

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Paradisaeidae

Genus: Astrapia

Species: Astrapia splendidissima Rothschild, 1895