The tricoloured munia (''Lonchura malacca'') is an estrildid finch, native to Bangladesh, India,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, Pakistan, and southern China. The species has also introduced to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, in Trinidad, Jamaica,

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela. This species, like the

chestnut munia The chestnut munia or black-headed munia (''Lonchura atricapilla'') is a small passerine. It was formerly considered conspecific with the closely related tricoloured munia, but is now widely recognized as a separate species. This estrildid finch ...

has been known as the black-headed munia. Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the dark head found in adults, and have uniform buff underparts that can be confused with immatures of other munias such as the

scaly-breasted munia The scaly-breasted munia or spotted munia (''Lonchura punctulata''), known in the pet trade as nutmeg mannikin or spice finch, is a sparrow-sized estrildid finch native to tropical Asia. A species of the genus ''Lonchura'', it was formally desc ...

Taxonomy

The tricolored munia was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

'' under 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 ...

''Loxia malacca''. Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as China, Java and Malacca. This was corrected by

E. C. Stuart Baker Edward Charles Stuart Baker CIE OBE FZS FLS (1864 – 16 April 1944) was a British ornithologist and police officer. He catalogued the birds of India and produced the second edition of the ''Fauna of British India'' which included the introd ...

in 1926 as

Belgaum Belgaum (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ...

in the state of Karnataka in southwest India. The specific epithet ''malacca'' is a geographical misnomer; the species does not occur on 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 ...

. The tricolored munia is now placed in the genus '' Lonchura'' that was introduced by the English naturalist William Henry Sykes in 1832. This species was formerly treated as conspecific with the

(''Lonchura atricapilla''). It is monotypic: no

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 ...

are recognised.

Habitat

The tricoloured munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on grain and other seeds. It inhabits wet grassland habitats. It may also be found in tropical lowland moist forest habitats.

Gallery

File:Tricoloured Munia AMSM1246.jpg, Tricoloured Munia - ''Lonchura malacca malacca'' at

Haiderpur Wetland Haiderpur wetland is a UNESCO Ramsar site located near the Bijnor Ganga Barrage within the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, India. Formation and Geography Haiderpur wetland is one of the largest human-made wetland that was form ...

References

External links

Tri-coloured Munia Species Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q478632

tricoloured munia The tricoloured munia (''Lonchura malacca'') is an estrildid finch, native to Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and southern China. The species has also introduced to the Caribbean, in Trinidad, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and V ...

Birds of India Birds of Sri Lanka Birds of the Dominican Republic