The malia (''Malia grata'') is a medium-sized (approximately 29 cm long) babbler-like
passerine. It has an olive-green plumage, yellowish head and chest, and pinkish-brown
bill. The young is duller than the adult. It is the only member of the genus ''Malia''.
An
Indonesian
endemic, the malia is restricted to montane forests of
Sulawesi
Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
. Usually, it is found in pairs or small groups of three to seven birds. The diet consists mainly of insects, beetles and other
arthropods.
There has been some debate over the
taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
relationships of the malia. It has some plumage characteristics reminiscent of
bulbul
The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical As ...
s, and has been shifted between that family and the
wastebasket taxon Timaliidae ''
sensu lato'' by past authors. A study published early in 2012 found that the malia was not a
babbler
Babbler may refer to:
* Old World babbler, a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds
* Australo-Papuan babbler, passerine birds endemic to Australia-New Guinea
* Babbler (software)
Babbler is a French software company founded in Septem ...
; later in the same year, a second study determined that it was instead an aberrant member of the family
Locustellidae
Locustellidae is a newly recognized family of small insectivorous songbirds ("warblers"), formerly placed in the Old World warbler "wastebin" family. It contains the grass warblers, grassbirds, and the ''Bradypterus'' "bush warblers". These bird ...
.
Widespread and common in its habitat and range, the malia is evaluated as
Least Concern on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
References
External links
BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malia (Bird)
Endemic birds of Sulawesi
Birds described in 1881
Locustellidae