The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush (''Pterorhinus treacheri'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of bird in the laughingthrush

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Leiothrichidae The laughingthrushes are a family, Leiothrichidae, of Old World passerine birds. The family contains 133 species and is divided into 16 genera. The species are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest v ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. Described by the British

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Richard Bowdler Sharpe Richard Bowdler Sharpe (22 November 1847 – 25 December 1909) was an English people, English zoologist and ornithology, ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his car ...

as a distinct species in 1879, it was subsequently considered a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the chestnut-capped laughingthrush until 2007, when it was again raised to species status by the ornithologists Nigel Collar and Craig Robson. It is long, with a chestnut brown head and chin, with grey feathering on the top of the head. The and the side of the neck are slaty-grey, with a long white wing patch. The throat, breast, and upper belly are dull yellowish-brown, with purer grey and a reddish-brown , lower belly, and thighs. It has a yellow half

eye-ring The eye-ring of a bird is a ring of tiny feathers that surrounds the orbital ring, a ring of bare skin immediately surrounding a bird's eye. The eye-ring is often decorative, and its colour may contrast with adjoining plumage. The ring of feather ...

behind and below the eye, while the tail has a blackish tip. Both sexes look similar, while juveniles are duller than adults. The species inhabits

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

and hill forest,

forest edge A woodland edge or forest edge is the transition zone (ecotone) from an area of woodland or forest to fields or other open spaces. Certain species of plants and animals are adapted to the forest edge, and these species are often more familiar to h ...

, disturbed vegetation, and cultivated areas in mountains in the north-central and southeastern parts of Borneo. It is mainly found at elevations of , but can be found down to and as high as . It is

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

, feeding on

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s, fruit, and flowers. Breeding occurs from February to April and in October, with the species building

cup nest A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian bl ...

s and laying

clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does the ...

of two bright blue to greenish-blue eggs. It is classified as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

due to its very large range, fairly large population, and a lack of significant population decline, but its numbers are thought to be decreasing and it is threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and

habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological proces ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush was originally described in 1879 as ''Ianthocincla treacheri'' by the British

on the basis of specimens from

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran'' or ''Nulu Nabalu'', ) is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo. With a height of , it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prom ...

. Sharpe later moved it to the genus ''Rhinocichla'' in 1883. It was subsequently considered a subspecies of the chestnut-capped laughingthrush and moved into the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Garrulax ''Garrulax'' is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Garrulax'' was erected by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831. The type species was designated in 1961 as ''Garrulax rufifrons'' ...

'' as part of that species. In 2007, the ornithologists Nigel Collar and Craig Robson restored the chestnut-hooded laughingthrush to full species status. Following the publication of a comprehensive

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study in 2018, it was moved to the resurrected genus ''

Pterorhinus ''Pterorhinus'' is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae. Taxonomy The genus was erected by the English zoologist Robert Swinhoe in 1868 with the plain laughingthrush (''Pterorhinus davidi'') as the type species ...

''. The name of the genus, ''Pterorhinus'', is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

words ''pteron'' (feather) and ''rhinos'' (

nostril A nostril (or naris , : nares ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbinates ...

). The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''treacheri'' refers to

William Hood Treacher Sir William Hood Treacher (1 December 1849 – 3 May 1919) was a British colonial administrator in Borneo and the Straits Settlements. He founded the Anglo Chinese School in Klang on 10 March 1892. Family Treacher was the fourth son of Rev. ...

, a British

colonial administrator Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

who was the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the British colony of

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

. "Chestnut-hooded laughingthrush" is the official

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

designated by the

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", ...

(IOU). The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush is one of 133 species recognised by the IOU in the laughingthrush

, a diverse group of birds found across Africa,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

, and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and China. Within the family, it is one of 23 species currently classified in the genus ''Pterorhinus''. A 2019

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

by Tianlong Cai and colleagues found the chestnut-hooded laughingthrush to be most closely related to the chestnut-capped laughingthrush. These two species were

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

(most closely related) to a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

(group of organisms descending from a common ancestor) formed by the rufous-necked, chestnut-backed, and black-throated laughingthrushes.

Subspecies

There are currently three recognised subspecies of the chestnut-hooded laughingthrush. The subspecies that inhabits western and southeastern Borneo is undescribed. * ''P. t. treacheri'' ( Sharpe, 1879): The

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: 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. ...

, it is found in northern Borneo. * ''P. t. damnatus'' ( Harrisson & Hartley, 1934): It is found in north-central Borneo. * ''P. t. griswoldi'' ( Peters, JL, 1940): It is found in central Borneo.

Description

The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush is long, with both sexes having similar appearances. In the nominate subspecies, the chin, lores (area between the eyes and nostrils), (line above the eye), feathers around the nostrils, and the area around the base of the bill are chestnut brown. The forehead, front of the (top of the head), and the area from the eyes down to the chin are darker, with some greyish-white feathering on the crown. The throat, breast, and upper belly are dull yellowish-brown with a greyish tinge and dull yellowish-brown streaking. The are purer grey, while the lower belly, thighs, and are reddish-brown. The side of the neck and the are slaty-grey with a slight yellowish-brown tinge, with a long white patch on the . The tail is darker grey and has a blackish tip. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

is red to reddish-brown, with a yellow half

behind and below the eye. The bill is dull orange to yellowish-brown, while the legs are yellowish. Juveniles are duller than adults. ''P. t. damnatus'' has a duller breast with less streaking, while ''P. t. griswoldi'' has more intense chestnut on the vent. The species differs from the chestnut-capped laughingthrush by the feathering on the nostrils, its yellow (instead of white) eye-ring that is only present behind and below the eye, chestnut brown chin, greyer upperparts, paler , and greyer feathers on the crown. The undescribed subspecies from western and southeastern Borneo differs from the three known subspecies in the colour of its underparts (peachy-buff instead of buff-grey), the presence of white markings below the eye, and the absence of streaking on the chest.

Vocalisations

The song of the chestnut-hooded laughingthrush is a fluty, high-pitched ''chu-wu, chwi-wi-wi-wi-wiee-wiu-wu'' with rather clicky starting notes or a rising and falling ''wiu-wu-wu-wi-wi-wee-wu''. It also makes an even-pitched series of up to 12 ''wi'' notes, a ''wu-tuwu-tuwu'', or a ''ri’-ri’-ri'', all of which are punctuated with a ''to-we-oh to-we-oh''. Its call is a harsh, hoarse churr, while the

contact call Contact calls are seemingly haphazard sounds made by many social animals (such as a chicken's cluck). Contact calls are unlike other calls (such as alarm calls) in that they are not usually widely used, conspicuous calls, but rather short exclamatio ...

is a soft, descending ''ah-ah-ah-ah'', with the latter notes also given singly.

Distribution and habitat

The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush is

to Borneo, where it is found in the north-central mountain ranges from Mount Kinabalu to Barito Ulu, along with the

Meratus Mountains The Meratus Mountains is a mountain range in the Indonesian province of South Kalimantan; it is located on Borneo island. The mountains run in a north-south arc that divides South Kalimantan province into two almost equal parts. Its highest peak ...

in the southeast of the island. It inhabits evergreen

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

and hill forest,

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

, disturbed vegetation, and cultivated areas such as short growth in old rice fields. It is usually found at elevations of , but may sometimes be seen as low as and as high as .

Behaviour and ecology

The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush forages in small groups of 4–5 birds, frequently joining

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock (birds), flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while fora ...

s that can include the Sunda cuckooshrike,

Sunda laughingthrush The Sunda laughingthrush (''Garrulax palliatus'') is a bird species in the family Leiothrichidae. It is found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland ...

, Whitehead's broadbill, and Whitehead's trogon. These flocks can include ''Tupaia''

treeshrew The treeshrews (also called tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia (from Latin ''scandere'', "to climb"), which split into two families: the ...

s and '' Dremomys'' squirrels on the ground and ''

Sundasciurus ''Sundasciurus'' is a genus of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It contains 20 species: *Genus ''Sundasciurus'' ** Sumatran mountain squirrel (''Sundasciurus altitudinis'') ** Brooke's squirrel (''Sundasciurus brookei'') ** Davao squirrel (''Su ...

'' squirrels in the canopy.

Feeding

The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush is

. It feeds on arthropods such as grasshoppers, ants,

crickets Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets and more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 886 ...

earwig Earwigs make up the insect order (biology), order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cercus, cerci, a pair of forceps-like pincer (biology), pincers on ...

s, moths, caterpillars,

leafhopper Leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family (biology), family Cicadellidae: based on the type genus ''Cicadella''. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or ...

s, bug

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

, flies, small black beetles, and small

millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

s. It also eats the fruit of ''

Glochidion ''Glochidion'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 170 species, distributed from Madagascar to the Pa ...

'', ''

Macaranga ''Macaranga'' is a large genus of Old World tropical trees of the family Euphorbiaceae and the only genus in the subtribe Macaranginae (tribe Acalypheae). Native to Africa, Australasia, Asia and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oc ...

'', ''

Trema cannabina ''Trema cannabina'' is a species of flowering plant in the family ''Cannabaceae''. This tree is found in Southeast Asia and Oceania. They are perennial. It is found in sandy, well drained soil. It also goes by the names of lesser ''Trema'' and p ...

'', ''

Embelia ribes ''Embelia ribes'', commonly known as false black pepper, white-flowered embelia, ''viḍaṅga'' (), ''vaividang'', ''vai vidang'', or ''vavding'' is a species in the family Primulaceae. It was originally described by Nicolaas Laurens Burman Ni ...

'', ''

Sambucus ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are mostl ...

'', and melastomes like ''

Medinilla ''Medinilla'' is a genus of about 368 species of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae, native to tropical regions of the Old World from Africa east through southeast Asia to Australia and the western Pacific Ocean. The genus was named ...

,'' along with the flowers of the invasive ''

Passiflora edulis ''Passiflora edulis'', commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to the region of southern Brazil through Paraguay to northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for Passi ...

'' and both the fruits and flowers of ''

Rhodamnia ''Rhodamnia'' is a group of rainforest trees and shrubs in the myrtle family described as a genus in 1822.Govaerts, R., Sobral, N., Ashton, P., Barrie, F., Holst, B.K., Landrum, L.L., Matsumoto, K., Fernanda Mazine, F., Nic Lughadha, E., Proenç ...

''. The species forages by hopping up slanting branches in a

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

-like manner without using its tail for support and taking insects from the surface. It sometimes clings to vertical surfaces like the trunks of

tree fern Tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk (botany), trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae ( ...

s. It will also forage on

forest floor The forest floor, also called detritus or wikt:duff#Noun 2, duff, is the part of a forest ecosystem that mediates between the living, aboveground portion of the forest and the mineral soil, principally composed of dead and decaying plant matter ...

s and lawns like a ''

Turdus ''Turdus'' is a genus of medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Turdus'' is Latin for 'thrush'. Most of the species are called thrushes; the term thrush is also used for man ...

'' thrush, holding its tail up. It has been recorded feeding on flying ants that are unable to fly and insects hit by vehicles. Foraging is mainly conducted within a few metres of the ground, but the species also sometimes feeds in the

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

Breeding

Breeding in the species has been observed from February to April and in October. The cup-shaped nest is a loose collection made of grass stems, tendrils, dead leaves, and roots, with an outer layer of leaf skeletons,

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

leaves, and feathers and no inner lining. It is placed at a height of around in a mass of creepers or ferns suspended from a small tree.

Clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does the ...

have two glossy, bright blue to greenish-blue eggs.

Status

The chestnut-hooded laughingthrush is classified as being of

by the

due to its very large range, fairly large population, and a lack of significant population decline. It is common in the montane regions of Borneo and occurs in several

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

, such as

Kayan Mentarang National Park Kayan Mentarang National Park () is a densely forested national park located in the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. The national park is named after a great dispersed Mentarang mountain trails plateau of Apau K ...

and

Kinabalu Park Kinabalu Park (), established as one of the first national parks of Malaysia in 1964, is Malaysia's first World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in December 2000 for its "outstanding universal values" and the role as one of the most importan ...

. However, its population is currently thought to be declining due to

and

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7038481 chestnut-hooded laughingthrush Endemic birds of Borneo chestnut-hooded laughingthrush Taxa named by Richard Bowdler Sharpe Fauna of the Borneo montane rain forests