| Tooth-billed bowerbird | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Ptilonorhynchidae |
| Genus: | Scenopoeetes Coues, 1891 |
| Species: | S. dentirostris
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| Binomial name | |
| Scenopoeetes dentirostris (Ramsay, 1876)
| |
The tooth-billed bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris), also known as the stagemaker bowerbird or tooth-billed catbird, is a medium-sized (approximately 27 centimetres (11 in) long) bowerbird. It is a stocky olive-brown bird with brown-streaked buffish white underparts, grey feet, a brown iris and a distinctive serrated bill.[2][3][4] Both sexes are similar, but the female is slightly smaller than the male. It is the only member of the genus Scenopoeetes.
The tooth-billed bowerbird is endemic to the mountain forests of northeast Queensland, Australia.[5] Its diet consists mainly of fruits and young leaves of forest trees.
The male is polygamous and builds a display-court or "stage-type bower" (hence the alternate name stagemaker), decorated with fresh green leaves laid with their pale undersides facing up.[6] The leaves are collected by the male by chewing through the leaf stalk and old leaves are removed from the display-court. The display-court consists of a cleared area containing at least one tree trunk used by the male for perching. Upon the approach of a female the male drops to the ground and displays.
A common species in its limited habitat and range, the tooth-billed bowerbird is evaluated as near threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.[1]
