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Genus Parotia
Carola's Parotia - One of the most colorful parotias, the Queen Carola's Parotia inhabits the mid-mountain forests of central New Guinea. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. The stunning courtship dance of this species was described in detail by Scholes . It is similar to that of Lawes's Parotia, but modified to present the iridescent throat plumage and the flank tufts to best effort.
Eastern Parotia - Its appearance resembles Lawes's Parotia, of which it is sometimes considered a subspecies. It differs in the male frontal crest's and the female's dorsal plumages colors. The male has an iridescent golden green breast shield, elongated black plumes, three erectile spatule head wires behind each blue iris eye and golden brown nasal tuft feathers. The female is smaller than the male, with brown plumage and black barred below.
Lawes's Parotia - The male is a velvet black bird with an erectile silvery white forehead crest, iridescent purple blue nape and golden green breast plumes. The inside of its mouth is lime-colored. Adorned with three ornamental spatule head wires from behind of each eye and elongated black flank feathers, that spread skirt-like in courtship display. The female is a brown bird with dark head, yellow iris and dark-barred yellowish brown below. The iris is colored in various amounts of blue and yellow, changing according to the bird's mood.
Western Parotia - Endemic to Indonesia, the Western Parotia is found only in the mountain forests of Vogelkop and Wandammen Peninsula of Western New Guinea. The diet consists mainly of fruits and figs.
Wahnes' Parotia - This species is distributed and endemic to the mountain forests of Huon Peninsula and Adelbert Mountains, northeast Papua New Guinea. The diet consists mainly of fruits and arthropods. The male is polygamous and performs a spectacular courtship dance in the forest ground.