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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sicklebill" data-source="post: 3584511" data-attributes="member: 33954">I had anticipated this split, the females of this species in the Arfaks are just so different to the central and eastern birds, if species were described on female plumages then it would have been obvious-see parallels with whistlers and wheatears where highly distinct females were likewise not considered for species delimitation.My new field guide has this note:Male distinctive. Female-plumaged birds resemble parotias, but Carola’s has pale eye and forehead; E sub- species told from Magnificent Bird-of-paradise and Lawes’s Parotia female plumages by superciliary stripe, W NG subspecies with dark head told from Western Parotia by longer bill, paler less chestnut plumage, paler underparts, lack of blue eye. TN Genetic work on the three subspecies groups required, as there are quite marked vocal differences among them, as well as strikingly distinct female plumages, with minor poorly known (and sphinx virtually unknown). W birds, at least, seem good candidates for a split.I will be interested to see how they delimit the new subspecies, and how different it is.</blockquote>