The Taiwan hwamei (''Garrulax taewanus'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

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 ...

in 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 ...

. The species was first described by

Robert Swinhoe Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Formosa. He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him. Bio ...

in 1859. 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 the island of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It was formerly regarded 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

Chinese hwamei The Chinese hwamei or melodious laughingthrush (''Garrulax canorus'') is a passerine bird of eastern Asia in the family Leiothrichidae. The name "hwamei" comes from the Chinese 画眉 (huà-méi) means "painted eyebrow" referring to the distincti ...

(''Garrulax canorus'') but has since been split as a separate species. It is estimated to have diverged from the Chinese hwamei about 1.5 million years ago. It is about 24 centimetres long. It is mainly grey brown with heavy streaks on the crown, nape and back and fine streaks on much of the underparts. It lacks the white eye-markings of the Chinese hwamei which is also more rufous in colour and less heavily streaked. The whistling

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

is long, melodious and varied. It inhabits secondary

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

in the foothills and lower mountains up to 1,200 metres above sea level. It forages alone, in pairs or in small groups, searching amongst the understorey for insects and seeds. It has a declining population of 1,000–10,000 individuals and is classified as a

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

species by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

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 ...

may affect its numbers but the main threat is hybridization with introduced populations of the Chinese hwamei.

Hybridization

On the island of Taiwan, the Taiwan hwamei is known to interbreed with its sister species, the Chinese hwamei (''Garrulax canorus''). The Chinese hwamei is imported from China to Taiwan for the melodic and complex song of the males. Due to flaws in sexing of birds, females are accidentally imported and, because they cannot sing, are released into the wild where they hybridize with the native Taiwan hwamei. As a result of the release of this invasive species and its interaction with the native Taiwan hwamei, Li et al. suggest that the amount of introgression (found to be 20% in their study) is compromising the distinctiveness of the Taiwan species.

References

*BirdLife International (2008)
Species factsheet: Garrulax taewanus.
' Retrieved 22/05/08. *MacKinnon, John & Phillipps, Karen (2000) ''A Field Guide to the Birds of China'', Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Retrieved 22/05/08. *Handbook of Birds of the World (2019
Taiwan Hwamei.
Retrieved 19/11/19

External links

Oriental Bird Images: Taiwan hwamei ''Garrulax taewanus''
{{Taxonbar , from=Q716280

Taiwan hwamei The Taiwan hwamei (''Garrulax taewanus'') is a passerine bird in the family Leiothrichidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1859. It is endemic to the island of Taiwan. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the Chinese ...

Endemic birds of Taiwan