The Papuan whipbird (''Androphobus viridis'') is a little-known and unobtrusive species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Psophodidae Psophodidae is a family of passerine birds native to Australia and nearby areas. It has a complicated taxonomic history and different authors vary in which birds they include in the family. In the strictest sense, it includes only the five or six ...

. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

within the genus ''Androphobus''. It is found in

Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region ...

. It is currently

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

Least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

. This is probably due to the fact that it is very secretive, and, despite not being too restricted, thinly spread throughout its range; it is likely to be overlooked unless

singing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. It is apparently

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

Description

This species is 16–17 cm (6.3–6.7 in), making it significantly smaller than Australian whipbirds. Males have a moustachial white stripe and black throat while females are all moss green. Juveniles are darker green with blackish faces and underparts.

Habitat

It lives in

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, from 1,400 to 2,700 meters, where it inhabits the thick

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...

. It appears unlikely to be affected by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, as steep slopes and inaccessible terrain make the area a difficult target for

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Humayun Abdulali — India * Joseph ...

. Specimens were collected in the

Snow Mountains The Sudirman Range, also known as the Snow Mountains,"Sudirman Mountains (Snow Mountains)". Papua Insects Foundation. Accessed 5 August 2021/ref> Dugunduguoo, or Nassau Range is a mountain range in Central Papua province, Indonesia. It is named a ...

, along with other mountainous areas around the Pegunungan Makoke; despite being recorded at only seven sites, it is likely that this species occurs far more widely.

References

* Del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2007). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

''. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1301841

Papuan whipbird The Papuan whipbird (''Androphobus viridis'') is a little-known and unobtrusive species of bird in the family Psophodidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Androphobus''. It is found in Western New Guinea. It is currently classified as Least c ...

Birds of Western New Guinea Birds of the New Guinea Highlands

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Data deficient species