15 new bird species discovered in Amazon

The Amazon rain-forest, a well-known epicentre of biodiversity, has offered another treasure trove - 15 new bird species.
An international team of researchers coordinated by ornithologist Bret Whitney of the LSU Museum of Natural Science, or LSUMNS in Louisiana US, has published 15 species of birds previously unknown to science.
The formal description of these birds has been printed in a special volume of the "Handbook of the Birds of the World" series. Not since 1871 have so many new species of birds been introduced under a single cover.
"Birds are, far and away, the best-known group of vertebrates, so describing a large number of uncatalogued species of birds in this day and age is unexpected, to say the least," said Whitney.

"But what's so exciting about this presentation of 15 new species from the Amazon all at once is, first, highlighting how little we really know about species diversity in Amazonia, and second, showing how technological advances have given us new tool-sets for discovering and comparing naturally occurring, cohesive ('monophyletic') populations with other, closely related populations," said Whitney said.
Amazonia is home to far more species of birds - approximately 1,300 - and more species per unit area, than any other biome, researchers said.
Technological advances such as satellite imagery, digital recordings of vocalisations, DNA analysis and high-powered computation power have taken the age of discovery to the next level, and were key ingredients in the discovery of these new species, they said.

However, such discoveries still depend on exploration of remote areas of the Amazon rain-forest, just as they did a century ago.