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microrobert
06-06-2013, 05:21 PM
Amazonian Treasure Trove Yields 15 New Bird Species

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/wp-content/gallery/new-amazonian-birds/arapacu-de-bico-torto-novo-vitor-q-piacentini.jpg




The Amazon rainforest, a well-known epicenter of biodiversity, has offered up another trove of riches. The treasure takes the form of 15 newly described bird species. Some are tiny. One has a long, curved bill. Another is super fluffy. All live in the southern Amazon, most of them in an area known as the “arc of deforestation.”

It’s been 140 years since as many new Brazilian bird species were described at one time. In 1871, 40 new species (http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/06/018-023_Capa_Aves_207.pdf) were described by Austrian August von Pelzeln in Zur Ornithologie Brasiliens.

Amazonian Treasure Trove Yields 15 New Bird Species | Wired Science | Wired.com (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/new-amazonian-birds/)