The green iora (''Aegithina viridissima'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family Aegithinidae. It is found in the Thai-Malay Peninsula,

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 list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

and

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 ...

. Its

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s include lowland forests,

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 ...

and

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

. It is threatened by

habitat loss 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 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 ...

(IUCN) has assessed it as near-threatened.

Taxonomy

This species was described as ''Jora viridissima'' by

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

in 1850. Harry C. Oberholser described subspecies ''Aegithina viridissima thapsina'' from the Anamba Islands in 1917, noting its larger size and yellower plumage. These two subspecies are recognised by the

IOC World Bird List ''Birds of the World: Recommended English Names'' is a paperback book written by Frank Gill and Minturn Wright on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union. The book is an attempt to produce a standardized set of English names for all bi ...

, while ''Aegithina viridissima nesiotica'' described by Oberholser in 1912 is now included in 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. ...

Description

The green iora is long. The male has black lores and bright yellow "eyelids" (a broken

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 ...

). The face and upperparts are dark olive. The wings are black, with two white wing-bars on the

covert feather A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

s and olive-yellow margins on the

flight feather Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...

s. The underparts are also dark olive, with lighter flanks and a yellow centre belly. The tail is black. The eyes are dark to red brown, the beak is grey-blue, and the feet are slaty blue. The female has yellow lores and a complete eye-ring. The upperparts and tail are medium olive. The wings are similar to those of the male but are washed olive, and the wing-bars are yellow instead. The underparts are olive green, with a yellow tint on the centre belly. The juvenile bird is similar to the female, but is paler.

Distribution and habitat

This species is found in Tenasserim, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and some small neighbouring islands, and it is locally extinct in Singapore. It lives in the canopy of lowland forests up to in elevation, and is also found in tall

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of th ...

and

Behaviour

This iora often occurs in pairs or small groups. It feeds on invertebrates, regularly 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. The contact call is a whining, descending ''ji-sheur'' or ''ji-wier'', and a ''ji-jirijiri-jeh''

mating call A mating call is the auditory signal used by animals to attract mates. It can occur in males or females, but literature is abundantly favored toward researching mating calls in females. In addition, mating calls are often the subject of mate choi ...

has been recorded. The green iora is usually sociable, but intense fighting has also been observed. Breeding has been recorded in April and May. The cup-shaped nest is built on a tree above the ground. Both the male and female incubate the eggs, and nestlings are brooded in rainy weather.

Moulting In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is a process by which an animal casts off parts of its body to serve some beneficial purpose, either at ...

has been recorded in July and August.

Status

The population is probably declining because of habitat loss caused by

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksland conversion Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways, such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpo ...

. The IUCN Red List has assessed it as a

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

References

External links

Image at ADW
{{Taxonbar, from=Q968830 Aegithinidae Birds of Malesia Birds described in 1850 Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Taxonomy articles created by Polbot