Lepidothrix coronata genome sequencing and assembly. Lepidothrix coronata

The blue-crowned manakin (Lepidothrix coronata) is a species of bird in the Pipridae family, which ranges from the Pacific slope of Costa Rica to northwestern Ecuador and in western Amazonia from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil to Bolivia. Blue-crowned manakin males aggregate in leks, where they engage in competitive displays that may entice visiting females who are surveying prospective partners for copulation. High reproductive skew among males has led to the question why males join leks when their chances of reproductive success are so low. The genetic changes resulting in plumage variation among closely related taxa as in the blue-crowned manakin subspecies might represent important evolutionary events. The molecular basis of such differences in the blue-crowned manakin is an active area of research.