Amblyornis

Amblyornis
Streaked bowerbird, Amblyornis subalaris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Ptilonorhynchidae
Genus:	Amblyornis Elliot, 1872
Type species
Ptilorhynchus inornatus Schlegel, 1871

Amblyornis is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the bowerbird family Ptilonorhynchidae. The species are endemic to the mountains of New Guinea.

Birds in this genus build "maypole-type" bowers in which vegetation is arranged around a central vertical sapling or tree-fern. ^{[1] [2]}

Taxonomy

The genus Amblyornis was introduced in 1872 by the American zoologist Daniel Giraud Elliot to accommodate a single species, Ptilorhynchus inornatus Schlegel, 1871, the Vogelkop bowerbird, which is the type species by monotypy. ^{[3] [4]} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek αμβλυοεις/ambluoeis meaning "dull" with ορνις/ornis meaning "bird". ^[5]

Species

The genus contains four species: ^[6]

Image	Name	Common name	Distribution
	Amblyornis flavifrons	Golden-fronted bowerbird	Foja Mountains in the Papua province of Indonesia
	Amblyornis macgregoriae	MacGregor's bowerbird	New Guinea
	Amblyornis subalaris	Streaked bowerbird	southeastern New Guinea
	Amblyornis inornata	Vogelkop bowerbird	Bird's Head Peninsula (Vogelkop Peninsula) of western New Guinea

References

1. Frith, C.B.; Frith, D.W. (2009). "Family Ptilonorhynchidae (Bowerbirds)" . In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 350-403 [366]. ISBN   978-84-96553-50-7.
2. Ericson, P.G.P.; Irestedt, M.; Nylander, J.A.A.; Christidis, L.; Joseph, L.; Qu, Y. (2020). "Parallel evolution of bower-building behavior in two groups of bowerbirds suggested by phylogenomics". Systematic Biology. 69 (5): 820–829. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa040 . PMC   7440736 .
3. Elliot, Daniel Giraud (1872). "Descriptions of two new genera of Paradiseidae, with remarks on some of the species". Ibis. Series 3. 2: 111-114 [113].
4. Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1962). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 15. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 176.
5. Jobling, James A. "Amblyornis". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
6. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi: 10.2173/avilist.v2025 . Retrieved 21 January 2026.