Muscles of the neck, trunk and tail in the Noisy Scrub-bird, Atrichornis clamosus, and Superb Lyrebird, Menura novaehollaindiae (Passeriformes: Atrichornithidae and Menuridae)

Abstract

Muscles of the neck, trunk and tail of the Noisy Scrub-bird, Atrichornis clamosus, are described, illustrated and compared with those of the Superb Lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae. It is proposed that hypertrophy of various neck muscles in A trich orn is is related to use of the head in penetrating litter and undergrowth. Atrichornis and Menura are shown to have qualitative differences in myology and in morphology of the uropygial glands, but taxonomic interpretation of these differences is judged to be premature without broader comparisons.