The Vietnamese greenfinch (''Chloris monguilloti'') is a small

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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird in the family

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

. It is found only in Đà Lạt Plateau of southern

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. Its natural

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 ...

is open montane pine forest and scrubland. 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 ...

Taxonomy

The first formal description of the Vietnamese greenfinch was by the American ornithologist

Jean Théodore Delacour Jean Théodore Delacour (26 September 1890 – 5 November 1985) was a French ornithologist and aviculturist. He later became American. He was renowned for not only discovering but also rearing some of the rarest birds in the world. He establishe ...

in 1926 under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Hypacanthis monguilloti''. In the past the greenfinches were placed in 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 ...

Carduelis The genus ''Carduelis'' is a group of birds in the finch family (biology), family Fringillidae. The genus ''Carduelis'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by Tautonym, tautonomy based on Carl Linnaeus's Spe ...

'' but when

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 ...

studies found that they were not closely related to the other species in ''Carduelis'', they were moved to the resurrected genus ''

Chloris In Greek mythology, the name Chloris (; Greek Χλωρίς ''Chlōrís'', from χλωρός ''chlōrós'', meaning "greenish-yellow", "pale green", "pale", "pallid", or "fresh") appears in a variety of contexts. Some clearly refer to different ch ...

''. The genus had been first introduced by the French naturalist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

in 1800. The word ''Chloris'' is from the Ancient Greek ''khlōris'' for the European greenfinch; the specific epithet was chosen to honour

Maurice Antoine François Monguillot Maurice Antoine François Monguillot (9 August 1874 – 23 June 1945) was a French colonial administrator in French Indochina and soldier. He served as the acting governor-general of French Indochina three times; from May 1919 to February 1920, ...

, the General Secretary of French Indochina. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Description

The Vietnamese greenfinch is in length and weighs between . It has a large conical bill, a black head and a narrow bright yellow collar. The plumage of the female is similar to that of the male but is less brightly coloured.

Range and habitat

The Vietnamese greenfinch is native to the Đà Lạt Plateau in southern Vietnam. It is inhabits open montane pine forest of '' Pinus kesiya'', along with forest edges and secondary growth, from 1,050 to 1,900 meters elevation, although it has been recorded as low as 600 meters elevation. It feeds on the seeds of pine trees, and has been observed flycatching recently-hatched termites.BirdLife International (2023)
Species factsheet: ''Chloris monguilloti''
Retrieved 1 June 2023.

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the Vietnamese greenfinch
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10747437 Chloris (bird) Endemic birds of Vietnam Birds described in 1926 Taxa named by Jean Théodore Delacour Taxonomy articles created by Polbot