Scaly-breasted Munia

Scaly-breasted Munia
Adult L. p. punctulata in Kolkata, India
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Estrildidae
Genus:	Lonchura
Species:	L. punctulata
Binomial name
Lonchura punctulata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Loxia punctulata

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 extending from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and the Philippines. It has been introduced into many other parts of the world and has established in Puerto Rico and Hispaniola as well as parts of Australia and the United States of America. They are found in open habitats including gardens and agricultural fields where they forage in groups for grass seeds.

Description

Immature (Kolkata, India)

The Scaly-breasted Munia is 11–12 cm long. The adult has a stubby dark bill, brown upperparts and darker brown head. The underparts are white with black scale markings. The sexes are similar, although males have darker markings on the underside and a darker throat. Immature birds have pale brown upperparts, lack the darker head and with uniform buff underparts can be confused with immatures of other munias such as the Tricoloured Munia.^[2]

Populations within their wide distribution range show variations in plumage colour and size and about 11 subspecies are recognized. These include the nominate form found in the plains of South Asia (Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). The name lineoventer was formerly used for the Indian population. Other populations include subundulata from the eastern Himalayas, yunnanensis of southern China, topela of Thailand, cabanisi of the Philippines and fretensis of Singapor and Sumatra. Island populations include nisoria (Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa), particeps (Sulawesi), baweana (Bawean Island), sumbae (Sumba) and blasii (Flores, Timor and Tanimbar).

Habitat and distribution

Scaly-breasted Munias are found in a range of habitas but are usually close to water and grassland. In India, they are especially common in paddy fields where they are considered a minor pest on account of their grain feeding. They are found mainly on the plains but are found in the foothills of the Himalayas although sometimes found up to an altitude of 2500 m and in the Nilgiris they are found in summer up to 2100 m. In Pakistan they are restricted to a narrow region from Swat in the west to Lahore avoiding the desert zone and occurring again in India east of a line between Ludhiana and Mount Abu.^[3] It is rare in Kashmir.^[4][5]

Outside their native range, escaped birds frequently establish themselves in areas with suitable climate. Escaped or introduced populations have been recorded in the West Indies (Puerto Rico since 1971^[6]), Hawaii, Australia, Japan^[7] and southern United States mainly in Florida and California.^[8][9] In Oahu, Hawaii, they compete for habitats with Lonchura malacca and tend to be rare where the latter is present.^[10]

Behaviour and ecology

Feeding on rice grain

The Scaly-breasted Munia is a small gregarious bird which feeds mainly on seeds but also takes small berries of Lantana and other plants.^[11] They sometimes form large flocks of as many as 100 birds. Like some other munias, they sometimes feed on algae. They sometimes flick the tail while hopping about. The tail may be flicked laterally and sometimes vertically and will sometimes flick their wings as well. When roosting, they will set in close contact with each other. Birds in a flock will sometimes preen each other. The soliciting bird usually showing its chin. Allopreening is usually limited to just the face and neck.^[12] The breeding season is during the rainy season (mainly June to August in India) but can breed at other times. The calls include a short whistle, variations on kitty-kitty-kitty and a sharp chipping alarm note. The song of the male is very soft but complex and variable and is audible only at close range. This song described as a jingle consists of a series of high notes followed by a croaky rattle and ending in slurred whistle.^[12] When singing the male sits very erect with the head feathers raised. The nest is a large domed structure made of loose grass, bamboo or other leaves with a side entrance and placed in a tree or under the eaves of a house. A study in southern India found the preferred nesting trees to be Toddalia asiatica, Gymnosporia montana and Acacia chundra especially short and bushy ones in areas with low canopy cover. The nest opening is located along the most frequent wind direction.^[13] In northern India, they preferred isolated Acacia nilotica in non-urban areas but Thuja orientalis and Polyalthia longifolia in urban areas.^[14] The clutch is usually 4 to 6 but can be up to 10. Both sexes help build the nest and incubate the eggs. The eggs hatch after about 10 to 16 days.^[5][15]

The ease of maintaining these birds in captivity has made them popular for studying behaviour and physiology. Studies on foraging have examined the effect of group size on reducing predator vigilance and increasing feeding efficiency. Time spent on vigilance is greatest among solitary individuals and reduces as the group size increases to about four.^[16] Foraging birds may feed actively on the substrate or pick grain dropped on the ground and these strategies may be chosen according to the situation.^[17] Laboratory studies have found that long day illumination and high humidity trigger gonadal growth.^[18]

Origin

Origin and phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al.^[19] Estrildinae may have originated in India and dispersed thereafter (towards Africa and Pacific Ocean habitats).

References

1. ^ BirdLife International (2009). "Lonchura punctulata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/149426. 
2. ^ Rasmussen PC and JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. p. 673. 
3. ^ Abbass, D., Rais, M., Ghalib, S.A. and Khan, M.Z. (2010). "First Record of Spotted Munia (Lonchura punctulata) from Karachi". Pakistan J. Zool. 42 (4): 503–505. 
4. ^ Akhtar,SA; Rao,Prakash; Tiwari,JK; Javed, Salim (1992). "Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata (Linn.) from Dachigam National Park, Jammu and Kashmir". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 89 (1): 129. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Ali, S & S D Ripley (1999). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 10 (2 ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 119–121. 
6. ^ Moreno, JA (1997). "Review of the Subspecific Status and Origin of Introduced Finches in Puerto Rico". Caribbean Journal of Science 33 (3–4): 233–238. 
7. ^ Eguchi K & H E Amano (2004). "Invasive Birds in Japan". Global Environmental Research 8 (1): 29–39. http://www.airies.or.jp/publication/ger/pdf/08-01-04.pdf. 
8. ^ Duncan RA (2009). "The status of the nutmeg mannikin (Lonchura punctulata) in the extreme western panhandle of Florida". Florida Field Naturalist 37 (3): 96–97. http://www.fosbirds.org/sites/default/files/FFNs/FFN373p096.pdf. 
9. ^ Garrett, KL (2000). "The juvenile nutmeg mannikin: identification of a little brown bird". Western Birds 31 (2): 130–131. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/wb/v31n02/p0130-p0131.pdf. 
10. ^ Moulton, M. P., L. J. S. Allen, D. K. Ferris. (1992). "Competition, resource use and habitat selection in two introduced Hawaiian Mannikins". Biotropica 24 (1): 77–85. doi:10.2307/2388475. 
11. ^ Mehta, P (1997). "Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata feeding on scat?". Newsletter for Birdwatchers 37 (1): 16. http://www.archive.org/stream/NLBW37_1#page/n17/mode/1up. 
12. ^ ^{a b} Moynihan, M & M F Hall (1954). "Hostile, Sexual, and Other Social Behaviour Patterns of the Spice Finch (Lonchura punctulata) in Captivity". Behaviour 7 (1): 33–76. 
13. ^ Gokula V (2001). "Nesting ecology of the Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata in Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary (South India)". Acta Ornithologica 36 (1): 1–5. 
14. ^ Sharma RC; Bhatt D; Sharma RK (2004). "Breeding success of the tropical Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata in urbanized and forest habitats". Ornithological Science 3 (2): 113–117. doi:10.2326/osj.3.113. http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/osj/3/2/3_113/_article. 
15. ^ Lamba, BS (1974). "Nest construction technique of the Spotted Munia, Lonchura punctulata". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 71 (3): 613–616. 
16. ^ Beauchamp, G and Barbara Livoreil (1997). "The effect of group size on vigilance and feeding rate in spice finches (Lonchura punctulata)". Canadian Journal of Zoology 75: 1526–1531. doi:10.1139/z97-776. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z97-776. 
17. ^ Beauchamp G and Luc-Alain Giraldeau. "Patch exploitation in a producer-scrounger system: test of a hypothesis using flocks of spice finches (Lonchura punctulata)". Behavioral Ecology 8 (1): 54–59. http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/8/1/54.full.pdf. 
18. ^ Sikdar M; A Kar and P Prakash (1992). "Role of humidity in the seasonal reproduction of male spotted munia, Lonchura punctulata". Journal of Experimental Zoology 264 (1): 82–84. doi:10.1002/jez.1402640112. 
19. ^ Arnaiz-Villena, A; Ruiz-del-Valle V, Gomez-Prieto P, Reguera R, Parga-Lozano C, Serrano-Vela I (2009). "Estrildinae Finches (Aves, Passeriformes) from Africa, South Asia and Australia: a Molecular Phylogeographic Study". The Open Ornithology Journal 2: 29-36. http://chopo.pntic.mec.es/biolmol/publicaciones/Estrildinae_finches_2009.pdf. 

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