The mourning babbler (''Pellorneum malaccense''), previously the short-tailed babbler, is a species of bird in the ground babbler family

Pellorneidae 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 th ...

. It is found in the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

, Anambas Islands,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Banyak Islands The Banyak Islands (sometimes spelled Banjak Islands) are a group of inhabited islands located between Simeulue and Nias off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia's Aceh Province. Surveys of the area approximate around 71 islands and additi ...

Batu Islands The Batu Islands are an archipelago of Indonesia located in the Indian Ocean, off the west coast of Sumatra, between Nias and Siberut. The three primary islands, of approximately equal size, are Pini, Tanahmasa, and Tanahbala. There are seventy ...

, Riau Islands, Lingga Islands and the Natuna Islands. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the glissando babbler (''Pellorneum saturatum'') and the leaflitter babbler (''Pellorneum poliogene''). Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. The species is generally solitary, not joining larger mixed-species flocks, instead foraging as singles or pairs. They forage in the understory on the ground on a variety of insects including beetles, grasshoppers, and ants. Like other babblers they will use their foot to grasp food items, an unusual behaviour for passerine birds. The mourning babbler is locally common at a number of places within its range but is considered near-threatened due to the loss of lowland forest in its range.

Taxonomy

The mourning babbler was formally described in 1844 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub. He placed it with the shortwings in the genus ''

Brachypteryx ''Brachypteryx'' is a genus of passerine birds containing six species known as shortwings, that occurs in southeast Asia. Shortwings are small birds with long legs, finely pointed bills, short tails and short rounded wings. They are shy elusiv ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Brachypteryx malaccesis''. He specified the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

in Malaysia. The species is placed in the genus ''

Pellorneum ''Pellorneum'' is a genus of passerine birds in the family Pellorneidae. Some of its species were formerly placed in the genus ''Trichastoma''. The genus contains the following species: * Spot-throated babbler (''Pellorneum albiventre'') * Mar ...

'' that was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William Swainson. The glissando babbler (''Pellorneum saturatum'') and the leaflitter babbler (''Pellorneum poliogene'') were formerly considered to be

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

but are now treated as separate species based on their significant vocal and genetic differences. The mourning babbler is considered to be monotypic: no

are recognised.

References

*Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70 – 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

'', Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. {{Taxonbar, from=Q863123 Pellorneum Birds of Malesia Birds described in 1844 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot