The Javan leafbird (''Chloropsis cochinchinensis'') is a species of leafbird found in forest and second growth in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

. It was formerly considered as

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organis ...

with the widespread

blue-winged leafbird The blue-winged leafbird (''Chloropsis moluccensis'') is a species of leafbird found in forest and second growth throughout Southeast Asia as far east as Borneo and as far south as southern Sumatra. It previously included Jerdon's leafbird (' ...

Taxonomy

The Javan leafbird was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the thrushes in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Turdus True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus ''Turdus'' of the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Turdus'' is Latin for "thrush". The term "thrush" is used for many other birds of the family T ...

'' and coined the binomial name ''Turdus cochinchinensis''. Gmelin based his account on "Le verdin de la Cochinchine" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent ...

in his multi-volume work ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. A hand-coloured engraving by

François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist. Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially ornithology. Notable in particular are those for ''l'Ornithologia, sive Synop ...

was published separately to accompany Buffon's text.

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...

is a historical name for Vietnam. The Javan leafbird is now one of 12 leafbirds placed in the genus ''

Chloropsis The leafbirds (Chloropseidae) are a family of small passerine bird species found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. They were formerly grouped with the ioras and fairy-bluebirds in the family Irenidae. As presently defined, the leaf ...

'' that was introduced in 1827 by William Jardine & Prideaux Selby. It was formerly considered to be

with the

(''Chloropsis moluccensis'').

Status

The species is

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 in ...

largely due to overexploitation for the Asian songbird trade. Although leafbirds were a moderately popular choice of cage birds for many years, the popularity of leafbirds skyrocketed in recent years after the

greater green leafbird The greater green leafbird (''Chloropsis sonnerati'') is a species of bird in the family Chloropseidae. It is distinguished from the lesser green leafbird (''Chloropsis cyanopogon'') by its powerful beak, yellow throat and eye ring of the femal ...

(''C. sonnerati'') became exceptionally sought-after. As the Javan leafbird is a primarily lowland-dwelling species, it is at high risk of severe overexploitation as its entire range is accessible to trappers. There have been reports of loss of ''C. cochinchinensis'' from previously-occupied sites while the habitat remains unchanged, indicating the risks that trapping poses to the species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27632914 Javan leafbird Javan leafbird Javan leafbird Birds of Java