Visual and acoustic components of courtship in the bird-of-paradise genus Astrapia (Ayes: Paradisaeidae)

The distintive an divergent courtship phenotypes of the birds-of-paradise make them an important group for gaining insights into the evolution of sexually selected phenotypic evolution. The genus Astrapia includes five long-tailed species that in habit New Guinea's montane forests The visual and acoustic components of courtship among Astrapia species are very poorly known studs', we use audiovisual data from a natural history collection animal to fill gaps in knowledge about the visual and acoustic components of Astrapia courtship. We seven distinct male behaviors and two female specific behaviors along with distinct vocalizations and wing-produced sonations for all five species. These results provide the most complete assessment of courtship in the genus Arrapia to date and provide a valuable baseline for future research including comparative and evolutionary studies among these and other bird-of-paradise species.