The madanga or rufous-throated white-eye (''Anthus ruficollis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

that was formerly included in the family

Zosteropidae The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...

but is now thought to be an atypical member of the family

Motacillidae The wagtails, longclaws, and pipits are a family, Motacillidae, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Around 70 species occur in five genera. The longclaws are entirely restricted to the Afrotropics, and the wagtails are predominan ...

, consisting of the pipits and wagtails. Its close relatives are tree pipits of the genus ''

Anthus The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, ''Anthus'', of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae. The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world, e ...

'', and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the moist, mountainous, subtropical and tropical forest of the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n island

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...

. The bird was initially described from four specimens collected in April 1922 from one area in the western part of the island, near the settlement Wa Fehat, at elevations between and . These observations were reproduced on two birds in December 1995 at Wakeika, at an elevation of ; changes in the bird's habitat at Wa Fehat were also noted in 1995. The bird was observed only in a few localities and neither its habitat area nor population is reliably known. The population is estimated at more than several hundred individuals, and the habitat at several hundred km² from the available area above 1,200 m (872 km²) and above 1,500 m (382 km²); the birds are believed to disperse over their habitat rather than form groups. Because the species is restricted to a single island and its habitat is threatened by logging and other human activities, it is listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

since 1996. The madanga most likely eats small

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

recovered from bark and lichen. The bird has distinct coloration and body features, namely lack of a white eye-ring; longer toes, wing and tail, and the pointed shape of the

rectrices Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

(part of the tail).Rufous-throated White-eye
Hokkaido Institute of Environmental Sciences and Japan Science and Technology Agency A 2015 DNA analysis indicates the species is more closely related to the

pipit The pipits are a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus, ''Anthus'', of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family (biology), family Motacillidae. The genus is wide ...

s than the white-eyes, and some taxonomic authorities now tend to regard it as being a member of the family

within the clade containing pipits in the genus ''

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q178830 Anthus Birds of Buru Birds described in 1923 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot