Spotted elachura | |
---|---|
Songs (recorded in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Elachuridae Alström et al., 2014 |
Genus: | Elachura Oates, 1889 |
Species: | E. formosa |
Binomial name | |
Elachura formosa (Walden, 1874) | |
Synonyms | |
Spelaeornis formosus |
The spotted elachura or spotted wren-babbler (Elachura formosa) is a species of passerine bird found in the forests of the eastern Himalayas and Southeast Asia. In the past it was included in the babbler genus Spelaeornis as S. formosus, but molecular phylogenetic studies in 2014 provided evidence that it was distinct from the babblers and part of a basal lineage (one that diverged early) with no other close living relatives within the passerine bird clade Passerida. This led to the creation of a new family, Elachuridae, to accommodate just one species (a monotypic taxon). [2]
The spotted elachura measures 10 cm including its short tail. It is dark brown all over, with rufous wings and tail. It also has white speckles all over its body, shifting to black barring on its wings and tail.
It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. This species is found in undergrowth and dense thickets of this type of forest, with a preference for thick fern ground cover, mossy rocks and decaying trunks of fallen trees and brushwood (often near a stream or creek), long grass, and scrub. [3]
A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes, which facilitates perching.
The puff-throated babbler or spotted babbler is a species of passerine bird found in Asia. They are found in scrub and moist forest mainly in hilly regions. They forage in small groups on the forest floor, turning around leaf litter to find their prey and usually staying low in the undergrowth where they can be hard to spot. However, they have loud and distinct calls, including a morning song, contact and alarm calls. It is the type species of the genus Pellorneum which may, however, currently include multiple lineages.
The ashy-headed laughingthrush is a member of the family Leiothrichidae. The laughingthrushes are a large family of Old World passerine birds characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in southeast Asia.
The Taiwan yuhina, also known as Formosan yuhina, is a small songbird endemic to the island of Taiwan.
The yellow-eyed babbler is a passerine bird native to South and Southeast Asia. It inhabits shrubland, grassland and wetland habitats. On the IUCN Red List, it is listed as Least Concern because of its wide distribution and stable population.
The rail-babbler or Malaysian rail-babbler is a strange, rail-like, brown and pied ground-living bird. It is the only species in the genus Eupetes and family Eupetidae. It lives on the floor of primary forests in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, as well as Borneo. It is distantly related to African crow-like birds. Its population has greatly decreased because much of the lowland primary forest has been cut, and secondary forests usually have too dense a bottom vegetation or do not offer enough shade to be favourable for the species. However, it is locally still common in logged forest or on hill-forest on slopes, and probably not in immediate danger of extinction. The species is poorly known and rarely seen, in no small part due to its shyness.
The Sulawesi thrush is a species of passerine bird in the thrush family, Turdidae. It is endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, where it inhabits evergreen montane forests at altitudes of 1,100–2,400 m (3,600–7,900 ft). Although it has a limited range and is not a common bird, the IUCN has assessed it as being a "least-concern species".
The ashy-headed babbler is a species of passerine bird in the ground babbler family Pellorneidae. The species is also known as the ashy-crowned babbler. The species is closely related to the short-tailed babbler. The two species are sometimes treated as the same species but differ in their calls. The species is monotypic, meaning it has no subspecies.
The melampittas are a family, Melampittidae, of New Guinean birds containing two enigmatic species. The two species are found in two genera, the greater melampitta in the genus Megalampitta and the lesser melampitta in the genus Melampitta. They are little studied and before being established as a family in 2014 their taxonomic relationships with other birds were uncertain, being considered at one time related variously to the pittas, Old World babblers and birds-of-paradise.
The red-tailed minla is a passerine bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is the only species in the genus Minla.
The Nepal cupwing(Pnoepyga immaculata), also known as the Nepal wren-babbler or immaculate cupwing, is a small species of passerine bird in the family Pnoepygidae. It is native to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tibet, and Nepal. It is found in dense montane forest in the Himalayas.
Spelaeornis, the typical wren-babblers, is a bird genus in the family Timaliidae. Among this group, the typical wren-babblers are quite closely related to the type species, the chestnut-capped babbler. One species that was earlier placed in the genus, the spotted elachura has been removed to a genus of its own Elachura and placed in a separate family.
The slender-billed scimitar babbler is a passerine bird in the Old World babbler family. It is found from the Himalayas to north-western Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The white-bellied erpornis or simply erpornis is a species of bird. It is the only member of the genus Erpornis. This bird is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The jungle babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average the length of their body, or longer. These birds are found in tropical zones, with the greatest biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.