Apus is a small constellation in the southern sky. It represents a bird-of-paradise, and its name means "without feet" in Greek because the bird-of-paradise was once wrongly believed to lack feet. First depicted on a celestial globe by Petrus Plancius in 1598, it was charted on a star atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 Uranometria. The French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted and gave the brighter stars their Bayer designations in 1756.
Detail of Johann Bayer's 1603 Uranometria, showing the constellations Apus, Chamaeleon, Musca (as "Apis", the Bee), and Triangulum Australe, as well as the South celestial pole.
Globular cluster IC 4499 taken by Hubble Space Telescope.
The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of the species, the majority of which are sexually dimorphic. The males of these species tend to have very long, elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail, or head. For the most part, they are confined to dense rainforest habitats. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a variety of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-type polygamy.
Bird-of-paradise
Sicklebills such as this brown sicklebill have decurved bills.
Fruits of the genus Heptapleurum are an important part of the diet of the ribbon-tailed astrapia.
A male Victoria's riflebird displays and is inspected by a female.