The Sumatran laughingthrush (''Garrulax bicolor''), also known as the black-and-white laughingthrush, is a member of the family

Leiothrichidae The laughingthrushes are a family, Leiothrichidae, of Old World passerine birds. They are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire fam ...

. It was formerly treated as a

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 ...

of the

white-crested laughingthrush The white-crested laughingthrush (''Garrulax leucolophus'') is a member of the family Leiothrichidae.plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

of the Sumatran laughingthrush is blackish-brown and white. It 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 highland forest on 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 of

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 ...

, where it is

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and capture for the domestic wildlife trade. Despite being protected in Indonesia, illegal trade continues, often carried out openly in bird markets on Sumatra and Java. As there appears to be an increase in international demand for this species, there have been calls for better international protection through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

References

*Shepherd, C. R. and Gomez, L. (2018). Trade and conservation efforts involving the Sumatran Laughingthrush ''Garrulax bicolor'' in Indonesia. ''Journal of Indonesian Natural History'' 6 (2): 23-29. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1923410

Sumatran laughingthrush The Sumatran laughingthrush (''Garrulax bicolor''), also known as the black-and-white laughingthrush, is a member of the family Leiothrichidae. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the white-crested laughingthrush (''G. leucolophus''), but ...

Birds of Sumatra Endemic fauna of Sumatra

Taxa named by Gustav Hartlaub