Scaly-breasted munia

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Scaly-breasted munia
Lonchura punctulata (Nagarhole, 2004).jpg
L. p. punctulata (India)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Estrildidae
Genus: Lonchura
Species:
L. punctulata
Binomial name
Lonchura punctulata
Areale Lonchura punctulata.jpg
Native range
Synonyms
  • Loxia punctulataLinnaeus, 1758

The scaly-breasted munia or spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata), known in the pet trade as nutmeg mannikin or spice finch, is a sparrow-sized estrildid finch native to tropical Asia. A species of the genus Lonchura , it was formally described and named by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Its name is based on the distinct scale-like feather markings on the breast and belly. The adult is brown above and has a dark conical bill. The species has 11 subspecies across its range, which differ slightly in size and color.

Contents

This munia eats mainly grass seeds apart from berries and small insects. They forage in flocks and communicate with soft calls and whistles. The species is highly social and may sometimes roost with other species of munias. This species is found in tropical plains and grasslands. Breeding pairs construct dome-shaped nests using grass or bamboo leaves.

The species is endemic to Asia and occurs from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and the Philippines (where it is called mayang pakíng). It has been introduced into many other parts of the world, and feral populations have established in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, as well as parts of Australia, and the United States of America, with sightings in California. The bird is listed as of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Taxonomy

In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the scaly-breasted munia in the first volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "Gowry Bird". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen at the London home of Charles du Bois, treasurer to the East India Company. [2] When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the scaly-breasted munia with the crossbills in the genus Loxia . Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Loxia punctulata and cited Edwards' work. [3] Linnaeus specified the locality as "Asia" but this was restricted to Kolkata (Calcutta) by E. C. Stuart Baker in 1926. [4] [5] The species is now placed in the genus Lonchura that was introduced by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832. [6] [7] The genus name Lonchura combines the Ancient Greek lonkhē meaning "spear-head" or "lance" with oura meaning "tail". The specific epithet is from Modern Latin punctulatus meaning "spotted" or "dotted". [8]

Over its large range there are 11 recognised subspecies. These include the nominate form found in the plains of the Indian Subcontinent, including Pakistan, India, Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The name lineoventer was formerly used for the Indian population. Other populations include subundulata from the eastern Himalayas, yunnanensis of southern China, topela of Thailand, cabanisi of the Philippines and fretensis of Singapore and Sumatra. Island populations include nisoria (Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa), particeps (Sulawesi), baweana (Bawean Island), sumbae (Sumba) and blasii (Flores, Timor and Tanimbar). [7]

The subspecies holmesi (southeast Borneo) is sometimes recognised. [9]

Description

juvenile L. p. punctulata, Sri Lanka Scaly-breasted munia (Lonchura punctulata punctulata) juvenile.jpg
juvenile L. p. punctulata, Sri Lanka

The scaly-breasted munia is about 11–12 centimetres (4.3–4.7 in) long and weighs 12–16 grams (0.026–0.035 lb). The adult has a stubby dark bill typical of grain eating birds, brown upperparts and a dark brown head. The underparts are white with dark scale markings. The sexes are similar, although males have darker markings on the underside and a darker throat than females. [10]

Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head found in adults, and have uniform buff underparts that can be confused with juveniles of other munia species such as the tricolored munia (Lonchura malacca) across the Asian and island populations and the black-throated munia (Lonchura kelaarti) in parts of India or Sri Lanka. [10] [11]

Distribution and habitat

The scaly-breasted munia (subspecies topela ) has established in parts of eastern Australia such as Queensland Nutmeg Mannikin 1.jpg
The scaly-breasted munia (subspecies topela ) has established in parts of eastern Australia such as Queensland

Scaly-breasted munias are found in a range of habitats but are usually close to water and grassland. In India, they are especially common in paddy fields where they are considered a minor pest on account of their feeding on grain. They are found mainly on the plains, but can be observed in the foothills of the Himalayas, in which they may be present at altitudes near 2,500 m (1.6 mi), and in the Nilgiris, where they are found at altitudes up to 2,100 m (6,900 ft) during the summer. In Pakistan, they are restricted to a narrow region from Swat in the west to Lahore, avoiding the desert zone, and then occurring again in India east of an area between Ludhiana and Mount Abu. [13] The species has also been observed in Kashmir, though this is rare. [14] [15]

Outside their native range, escaped birds frequently establish themselves in areas with a suitable climate and can then colonize new areas nearby. Escaped cage-birds established in the wild and such populations have been recorded in the West Indies (Puerto Rico since 1971), [16] Hawaii (since 1883 [17] ), [18] Japan [19] and southern United States, mainly in Florida and California. [20] [21] In Oahu, Hawaii, they compete for habitats with the tricolored munia and tend to be rare where this competitor is present. [18] The species has been introduced to other parts of the world due to its popularity as a cage bird and populations have established in the wild. [22] [23]

Behaviour and ecology

Sociality

Scaly-breasted munias form flocks of as many as 100 birds. Individuals communicate with calls that include a short whistle, variations of kitty-kitty-kitty, and a sharp chipping alarm note. [11] [23] They sometimes flick their tails and wings vertically or horizontally while hopping about. The tail flicking motion may have evolved from a locomotory intention movement. The exaggerated version of the tail flicking movement may have undergone ritualization. As a social signal, tail flicking in several other species acts as a signal indicating the intent to fly and helps keep flocks together. [23] [24]

When roosting communally, scaly-breasted munia sit side by side in close contact with each other. The outermost bird often jostles towards the center. Birds in a flock sometimes preen each other, with the soliciting bird usually showing its chin. Allopreening is usually limited to the face and neck. [23] The scaly-breasted munia is rarely hostile but birds will sometimes quarrel without any ritualized posturing. [23]

Breeding

Egg of scaly-breasted munia Lonchura punctulata MHNT 228 La Reunion.jpg
Egg of scaly-breasted munia

The breeding season is during the summer rainy season (mainly June to August and also in October season in India) but can vary. Laboratory studies have found that long day illumination and high humidity trigger gonadal growth. [25] The song of the male is very soft but complex and variable, audible only at close range. This song described as a jingle consists of a series of high notes followed by a croaky rattle and ending in a slurred whistle. When singing the male sits in what is called the slope posture—erect with the head feathers raised. [23]

There are two types of slope posture, a pre-copulatory one and an ordinary one. The pre-copulatory behavior of scaly-breasted munia includes a sequence of actions. The first involves either the male or female playing with nest-material. As soon as a bird has arranged the nest material in its bill, it begins to fly around in a zigzag path. Once a bird lands close to its partner, the male bends towards the female and wipes its bill. The male then sings with movements of the body. The female invites mounting with tail quivering. [11] [23] The nest is a large domed structure loosely woven from blades of grass, bamboo or other leaves with a side entrance and is placed in a tree or under the eaves of a house. A study in southern India found the preferred nesting trees to be Toddalia asiatica , Gymnosporia montana and Acacia chundra , especially short and bushy ones in areas with low canopy cover. The nest opening is located to face downwind of the most frequent wind direction. [26] In northern India, they preferred isolated Acacia nilotica in non-urban areas but used Thuja orientalis and Polyalthia longifolia in urban gardens. [27]

Scaly-breasted munia clutches usually contain 4 to 6 eggs, but can contain up to 10. Both sexes build the nest and incubate the eggs, which hatch in 10 to 16 days. [14] [28]

Food and foraging

Adult feeding young Adult feeding youngs.jpg
Adult feeding young

The scaly-breasted munia feeds mainly on grass seeds, small berries such as those of Lantana and insects. [29] Although the bill is suited for crushing small grains, they do not show lateral movements of the lower mandible which help European greenfinches in dehusking seeds. [30] Like some other munias, they may also feed on algae, a rich protein source, prior to the breeding season. [31]

The ease of maintaining these birds in captivity has made them popular for studying behavior and physiology. Feeding behavior can be predicted by the optimal foraging theory, where animals minimize time and energy spent to maximize food intake. This theory has been tested by studying the strategies used by scaly-breasted munias to increase their feeding efficacy. [32]

Flock size tradeoffs

Studies on foraging have examined the effect of group size in reducing time spent on predator vigilance, thereby increasing feeding efficiency. According to the "many-eyes" hypothesis, [33] a reduction in the individual time spent on vigilance against threats in larger groups allows for more time to be spent on searching for food and feeding. Vigilance is greatest among solitary individuals and reduces as the group size increases to about four. The birds collect seeds more quickly in larger groups, reflecting a decrease in individual vigilance, a decrease in handling time, and an increase in both search speed and focus when foraging. [34]

A foraging group Lonch punctu 071126-1775 tdp.jpg
A foraging group

Individuals may also take advantage of group foraging by "joining" members that have found food. The options to seek food or to join others that have discovered food involves information sharing and has been studied through what are termed "producer-scrounger models". [35] A cost associated with group foraging is increased resource competition, which in turn may reduce anti-predatory vigilance due to the intensity of foraging. [36] Some studies show that increased competition results in a decreased feeding rate. [37]

Foraging models

When foraging, scaly-breasted munia can search as individuals or search for others that have found food and join them. The economic consequences of the decision to join others has been modeled in two ways: the producer-scrounger model and the information sharing model. These models are based on hypotheses that differ in the degree of compatibility that is assumed between the two food and joining opportunity search modes. [38]

The information sharing model assumes that individuals search concurrently for finding and joining opportunities while the producer-scrounger model assumes that the search modes are mutually exclusive. [38] Hopping with the head facing up and downward are observed to be statistically associated with the frequencies of a bird's joining and finding, respectively. When the expected stable frequency of the scrounger tactic was altered by changing the availability of seeds, the relative frequency of hopping with the head up changed accordingly. When the seed distribution made the scrounger tactic unprofitable, the frequency of hopping with the head up diminished and appears to support the predictions of the producer-scrounger model. [39]

Studies show that scaly-breasted munias tend to adopt the scrounger tactic when food is more clumped and when the group size increases. When most foragers adopt scrounging, the time taken to discover new food patches is greater. [40]

Vigilance

Most social foragers must search for food while also avoiding predators. It has been suggested that individuals that play scrounger could also, by virtue of their head position, be alert for predators and hence contribute to antipredatory vigilance. If the scrounger tactic is compatible with antipredatory vigilance, then an increase in antipredatory vigilance should lead to the detection of more joining opportunities, and hence more joining. When stationary, the head-up tactic has been shown to be associated with antipredatory vigilance. However scanning while hopping does not aid in vigilance and it is thought that the scrounger tactic is incompatible with antipredatory vigilance in the scaly-breasted munia. [41]

Specialized foraging

Scaly-breasted munias have variable competitive behaviors that allow them to exploit scarce resources. There are two foraging alternatives: producers that make the food available and scroungers that steal food found by the producers. Studies show that these choices lead to a stable equilibrium within a group. When individuals are free to choose between producer and scrounger, frequency dependent selection results in a stable mixture of both behaviors where each receives similar payoff. Studies indicate that if most of the population consists of producers, then scrounging behavior is favored by natural selection because there is plenty of food to steal. On the other hand, if most birds exhibit scrounging then the competition for stealing is so great that producing is favored. [42] [43]

A pair feeding on grains Scaly breasted munia feeding.jpg
A pair feeding on grains

Three hypotheses might account for consistent foraging specializations across individuals: food source variation, phenotypic differences, and frequency dependent-choice. The food source variation hypothesis predicts that individuals will specialize when the use of two skills is more costly than specialist foraging. The phenotypic differences hypothesis proposes that individuals differ in their ability to use each foraging skill and stably specialize on the most profitable one. The pattern of specialization is expected to be stable although the number of individuals that use a given skill depends on the phenotypic composition of the flock. The frequency dependent choice hypothesis also proposes that individuals specialize on the most profitable skill, but the profitability of each alternative decreases as the number of phenotypically identical foragers gradually specialize on each skill when initially given two equally profitable alternatives. At equilibrium, individual payoffs should be independent of the pattern of specialization. Individuals in flocks adjusted their use of the two skills and two birds in each flock specialized on a different skill resulting in a variant of both the food source variation hypothesis and frequency dependent choice hypothesis. [44]

Aviary experiments conducted with captive flocks of scaly-breasted munia have tested whether producers and scroungers reach the predicted stable equilibrium frequency (see Evolutionarily stable strategy) when individuals are free to choose either behavior. The numbers choosing either producers and scrounger strategies have been shown to converge on stable frequencies while demonstrating that variation in tactics arise through frequency dependent pay-offs from the choice of different feeding strategies. [45]

Furthermore, foraging birds may feed actively on the substrate or pick grains dropped on the ground and these strategies may be chosen according to the situation. Early departures occur more often when expected searching time decreases and when competition intensity increases. Competition intensity is expected to increase when more scroungers are present or when patches are smaller. [46]

Prey crypsis

Since producers search for food and scroungers wait for opportunities to join, prey crypsis imposes a producer specific cost that shifts the producer scrounger equilibria towards more scrounging. Prey crypsis resulted in increased latency to eat the seed and increased number of detection errors. [47] Moreover, the presence of a competitor negatively affected foraging efficiency under cryptic backgrounds. The foraging efficiency of individuals that had previously foraged with a competitor on cryptic seeds remained low even after the competitor had been removed. Thus, the costs of foraging on cryptic prey may be greater for social foragers than for solitary foragers. [48]

Resource defence

Recent models of economic defence in a group-foraging context predict that the frequency of aggressive interactions should decline as resource density increases. [49] [50] [51] Studies with scaly-breasted munia show that the intensity of aggressive encounters was highest when patch location was signaled, and the effect of changing resource density depended on whether patch location was signaled or not. Signaling patch location was equivalent to making the resources more spatially predictable. Changing patch density had no effect on the number of aggressive encounters when the location of food was not signaled. When food location was signaled, increasing patch density resulted in the predicted decrease in the number of aggressive encounters. [52]

Conservation

The scaly-breasted munia is an abundant species and classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List. [1] The species occupies an extremely large range, and its population, while still unquantified, is large and stable. The scaly-breasted munia is not globally threatened and is common to very common throughout most of its range. However, some populations are dwindled due to the increase of bird cagings. [53]

In many areas it is regarded as an agricultural pest, feeding in large flocks on cultivated cereals such as rice. [54] In Southeast Asia, the scaly-breasted munia is trapped in large numbers for Buddhist ceremonies, but most birds are later released. [55]

Related Research Articles

Frequency-dependent selection is an evolutionary process by which the fitness of a phenotype or genotype depends on the phenotype or genotype composition of a given population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronze mannikin</span> Species of bird

The bronze mannikin or bronze munia is a small passerine bird of the Afrotropics. This very social estrildid finch is an uncommon to locally abundant bird in much of Africa south of the Sahara Desert, where it is resident, nomadic or irruptive in mesic savanna or forest margin habitats. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 8,100,000 km2. It is the smallest and most widespread of four munia species on the African mainland, the other being black-and-white, red-backed and magpie mannikin. It co-occurs with the Madagascar mannikin on the Comoro Islands, and was introduced to Puerto Rico. Especially in the West Africa, it is considered a pest in grain and rice fields. It is locally trapped for the pet bird trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian silverbill</span> Species of bird

The Indian silverbill or white-throated munia is a small passerine bird found in the Indian Subcontinent and adjoining regions that was formerly considered to include the closely related African silverbill. This estrildid finch is a common resident breeding bird in the drier regions of the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. It has also been introduced into many other parts of the world and has become established in some areas. They forage in small flocks in grassland and scrub habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-rumped munia</span> Species of bird

The white-rumped munia or white-rumped mannikin, sometimes called striated finch in aviculture, is a small passerine bird from the family of waxbill "finches" (Estrildidae). These are not close relatives of the true finches (Fringillidae) or true sparrows (Passeridae).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-throated munia</span> Species of bird

The black-throated munia or Jerdon's mannikin is a small passerine bird. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in the hills of southwest India, the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut munia</span> Species of bird

The chestnut munia or black-headed munia is a small passerine. It was formerly considered conspecific with the closely related tricoloured munia, but is now widely recognized as a separate species. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Hawaii. It also has been introduced to all the Greater Antilles and Martinique in the Caribbean.

<i>Lonchura</i> Genus of birds

Lonchura is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias and mannikins. They are seed-eating birds that are found in South Asia from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines. The name mannikin is from Middle Dutch mannekijn 'little man', and also the source of the common name of the family Pipridae, manakin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herd</span> Similar as Group

A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called herding. These animals are known as gregarious animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-browed finch</span> Species of bird

The red-browed finch is an estrildid finch that inhabits the east coast of Australia. This species has also been introduced to French Polynesia. It is commonly found in temperate forest and dry savannah habitats. It may also be found in dry forest and mangrove habitats in tropical region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javan munia</span> Species of bird

The Javan munia is a species of estrildid finch native to southern Sumatra, Java, Bali and Lombok islands in Indonesia. It was introduced in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula; It inhabits subtropical and tropical dry shrubland and grassland habitat. It has been assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dusky munia</span> Species of bird

The dusky munia is a species of estrildid finch which is endemic to Borneo. It is also commonly referred to as the Dusky mannikin and the Bornean munia. It is in the family of perching birds (Passeriformes) and is in the genus Lonchura. It is a monotypic species, and there are no subspecies in the genus.

The western alpine mannikin also known as Snow Mountain mannikin or western alpine munia is a small, approximately 11.5 cm long, estrildid finch. Both sexes are similar with dark brown plumage, black face, buff chest and black-barred white abdomen. The young has black bill, dark brown plumage and buffy-white below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooded mannikin</span> Species of bird

The hooded mannikin or hooded munia, also known as the New Britain mannikin or Sclater's mannikin, is a species of estrildid finch found in New Britain and New Guinea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut-breasted mannikin</span> Species of bird

The chestnut-breasted mannikin, also known as the chestnut-breasted munia or bully bird, is a small brown-backed munia with a black face and greyish crown and nape. It has a broad ferruginous breast bar above a white belly. The species is found in Australia, New Caledonia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. This species has also been introduced to French Polynesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black mannikin</span> Species of bird

The black mannikin or black munia is a species of estrildid finch found in New Guinea, from Mandum to Lake Daviumbu, Papua New Guinea. It is commonly found in flocks of maximum 20 birds, inhabiting savannas, wetlands, but sometimes they were also seen at rice crops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-breasted mannikin</span> Species of bird

The black-breasted mannikin or black-breasted munia is a species of estrildid finch endemic to West Papua, Indonesia. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 20,000 to 50,000 km2. It is found in subtropical/ tropical lowland dry shrubland and high altitude grassland habitat. The status of the species is Least Concern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tricoloured munia</span> Species of bird

The tricoloured munia is an estrildid finch, native to Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and southern China. The species has also been introduced to the Caribbean, in Trinidad, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela. This species, like the chestnut munia has been known as the black-headed munia. Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head found in adults, and have uniform buff underparts that can be confused with immatures of other munias such as the scaly-breasted munia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolutionary mismatch</span> Scientific concept

Evolutionary mismatch is the evolutionary biology concept that a previously advantageous trait may become maladaptive due to change in the environment, especially when change is rapid. It is said this can take place in humans as well as other animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pictorella mannikin</span> Species of bird

The pictorella mannikin, pictorella munia, or pictorella finch is small brown and grey finch with a grey bill and distinctive scaly white breast plate which is endemic to northern Australia. It is a seed-eater found in pairs and small flocks in dry savannah and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.

Vigilance, in the field of behavioural ecology, refers to an animal's monitoring of its surroundings in order to heighten awareness of predator presence. Vigilance is an important behaviour during foraging as animals must often venture away from the safety of shelter to find food. However, being vigilant comes at the expense of time spent feeding, so there is a trade-off between the two. The length of time animals devote to vigilance is dependent on many factors including predation risk and hunger.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2016). "Lonchura punctulata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22719821A94646304. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22719821A94646304.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Edwards, George (1743). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Vol. Part 1. London: Printed for the author at the College of Physicians. p. 40, Plate 40.
  3. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 173.
  4. ↑ Baker, E.C. Stuart (1926). The Fauna of British India Birds including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). London: Taylor and Francis. p. 91.
  5. ↑ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology.
  6. ↑ Sykes, William Henry (1832). "Catalogue of birds of the raptorial and insessorial orders (systematically arranged,) observed in the Dukhun". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 2 (18): 77–99 [94].
  7. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Jobling, J. A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  229, 324. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  9. ↑ Clements, J. F.; T. S. Schulenberg; M. J. Iliff; B.L. Sullivan; C. L. Wood & D. Roberson (2013). The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
  10. 1 2 Rasmussen, P.C. & Anderton, J.C. (2005). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vol. Volume 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. p. 673. ISBN   978-84-87334-66-5.
  11. 1 2 3 Restall, R. (1997). Munias and Mannikins. Yale University Press. pp. 97–105. ISBN   978-0-300-07109-2.
  12. ↑ Forshaw J; Mark Shephard; Anthony Pridham. Grassfinches in Australia. Csiro Publishing. pp. 267–268.
  13. ↑ Abbass, D.; Rais, M.; Ghalib, S.A. & Khan, M.Z. (2010). "First Record of Spotted Munia (Lonchura punctulata) from Karachi". Pakistan Journal of Zoology. 42 (4): 503–505.
  14. 1 2 Ali, S. & Ripley, S.D. (1999). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. Volume 10 (Second ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 119–121. ISBN   978-0-19-563708-3.
  15. ↑ Akhtar, S.A.; Rao, P.; Tiwari, J.K.; Javed, S. (1992). "Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata (Linn.) from Dachigam National Park, Jammu and Kashmir". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 89 (1): 129.
  16. ↑ Moreno, J.A. (1997). "Review of the Subspecific Status and Origin of Introduced Finches in Puerto Rico". Caribbean Journal of Science. 33 (3–4): 233–238.
  17. ↑ Moulton, M.P. (1993). "The All-or-None Pattern in Introduced Hawaiian Passeriforms: The role of competition sustained". The American Naturalist. 141 (1): 105–119. doi:10.1086/285463. JSTOR   2462765. S2CID   84341527.
  18. 1 2 Moulton, M. P.; Allen, L. J. S. & Ferris, D. K. (1992). "Competition, resource use and habitat selection in two introduced Hawaiian Mannikins". Biotropica. 24 (1): 77–85. doi:10.2307/2388475. JSTOR   2388475.
  19. ↑ Eguchi, K. & Amano, H.E. (2004). "Invasive Birds in Japan" (PDF). Global Environmental Research. 8 (1): 29–39.
  20. ↑ Duncan, R.A. (2009). "The status of the nutmeg mannikin (Lonchura punctulata) in the extreme western panhandle of Florida" (PDF). Florida Field Naturalist. 37 (3): 96–97.
  21. ↑ Garrett, K.L. (2000). "The juvenile nutmeg mannikin: identification of a little brown bird" (PDF). Western Birds. 31 (2): 130–131.
  22. ↑ Burton, M.; Burton, R. (2002). International Wildlife Encyclopedia . New York, NY: Marshal Cavendish. ISBN   9780761472865.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Moynihan, M. & Hall, M.F. (1954). "Hostile, Sexual, and Other Social Behaviour Patterns of the Spice Finch (Lonchura punctulata) in captivity". Behaviour. 7 (1): 33–76. doi:10.1163/156853955X00021.
  24. ↑ Baptista, L.F.; Lawson, R.; Visser, E.; Bell, D. A. (1999). "Relationships of some mannikins and waxbills in the estrildidae". Journal für Ornithologie. 140 (2): 179–192. doi:10.1007/BF01653597. S2CID   29184906.
  25. ↑ Sikdar, M.; Kar, A. & Prakash, P. (1992). "Role of humidity in the seasonal reproduction of male spotted munia, Lonchura punctulata". Journal of Experimental Zoology. 264 (1): 82–84. doi:10.1002/jez.1402640112.
  26. ↑ Gokula, V. (2001). "Nesting ecology of the Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary (South India)". Acta Ornithologica. 36 (1): 1–5. doi:10.3161/068.036.0107. S2CID   84260813.
  27. ↑ Sharma, R.C.; Bhatt, D. & Sharma, R.K. (2004). "Breeding success of the tropical Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata in urbanized and forest habitats". Ornithological Science. 3 (2): 113–117. doi: 10.2326/osj.3.113 .
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  29. ↑ Mehta, P. (1997). "Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata feeding on scat?". Newsletter for Birdwatchers . 37 (1): 16.
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