Fluorescence in some Australo-Papuan birds

Abstract

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Three groups of fluorescing pigments in the plumage of birds of Australo-Papua and elsewhere have been known for a while, all restricted to certain groups of non-passerines. Recently, fluorescing plumage in several species of birds-of-paradise (Paradisaeidae) and other passerines has been reported, the first evidence of this in this group of birds. This raises the question of the nature of this unidentified pigment and its possible distribution elsewhere in the Passeriformes.