Garrulax

Garrulax is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae.

Garrulax
White-crested laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Leiothrichidae
Genus:	Garrulax Lesson, 1831
Type species
Garrulax belangeri[1] Lesson, 1831
Species
See text
Synonyms
Leucodioptron Bonaparte, 1854 Stactocichla Sharpe, 1883 Melanocichla Sharpe, 1883 Rhinocichla Sharpe, 1883 Dryonastes Sharpe, 1883

Taxonomy

The genus Garrulax was erected by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831.^[2] The type species was designated in 1961 as the rufous-fronted laughingthrush (Garrulax rufifrons).^[3]

The genus previously included more species. Following the publication of a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study in 2018, Garrulax was split up and species were moved to the resurrected genera Ianthocincla and Pterorhinus.^[4][5]

Garrulax species are heavily traded as songbirds. A survey of eight bird markets in Indonesia, carried out in 2014–2015, found 615 laughingthrushes of nine species openly for sale.^[6] Much of the trade in these species in Indonesia is illegal and is pushing a number of these species towards extinction.^[7] The Sumatran Laughingthrush, for example, is in serious decline due to ongoing and uncontrolled illegal trade in bird markets on the islands of Java and Sumatra, and is increasingly found in international trade, though in lower numbers.^[8]

Species

The genus contains the following 14 species:^[5]

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Lesser necklaced laughingthrush	Garrulax monileger	Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.
	Rufous-fronted laughingthrush	Garrulax rufifrons	Java
	White-crested laughingthrush	Garrulax leucolophus	India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, China, Vietnam, and Thailand.
	Black-hooded laughingthrush	Garrulax milleti	Laos and Vietnam.
	Sumatran laughingthrush	Garrulax bicolor	Sumatra
	White-necked laughingthrush	Garrulax strepitans	Yunnan, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
	Cambodian laughingthrush	Garrulax ferrarius	Cambodia.
	Grey laughingthrush	Garrulax maesi	southern China
	Rufous-cheeked laughingthrush	Garrulax castanotis	China, Laos, and Vietnam.
	Sunda laughingthrush	Garrulax palliatus	Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia
	Chinese hwamei	Garrulax canorus	south-eastern and central China and in northern and central Vietnam and Laos.
	Taiwan hwamei	Garrulax taewanus	Taiwan
	Spot-breasted laughingthrush	Garrulax merulinus	Yunnan, Northeast India, Laos, Myanmar, north-west Thailand, and northern Vietnam.
	Orange-breasted laughingthrush	Garrulax annamensis	Vietnam

References

1. "Leiothrichidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
2. Lesson, René (1831). Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: F.G. Levrault. p. 647.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Cibois, A.; Gelang, M.; Alström, P.; Pasquet, E.; Fjeldså, J.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Olsson, U. (2018). "Comprehensive phylogeny of the laughingthrushes and allies (Aves, Leiothrichidae) and a proposal for a revised taxonomy". Zoologica Scripta. 47 (4): 428–440. doi:10.1111/zsc.12296. S2CID 51883434.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Laughingthrushes and allies". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
6. Shepherd, Chris R.; Eaton, James A.; Chng, Serene C. L. (2016). "Nothing to laugh about – the ongoing illegal trade in laughingthrushes (Garrulax species) in the bird markets of Java, Indonesia". Bird Conservation International. 26 (4): 524–530. doi:10.1017/S0959270916000320. ISSN 0959-2709. S2CID 88722096.
7. Shepherd, Chris R. (2010). "Observations on trade in laughingthrushes ( Garrulax spp.) in North Sumatra, Indonesia". Bird Conservation International. 21 (1): 86–91. doi:10.1017/S0959270910000274. ISSN 0959-2709.
8. Heinrich, Sarah; Leupen, Boyd T.C.; Bruslund, Simon; Owen, Andrew; Shepherd, Chris R. (2021). "A case for better international protection of the Sumatran Laughingthrush (Garrulax bicolor)". Global Ecology and Conservation. 25: e01414. Bibcode:2021GEcoC..2501414H. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01414. S2CID 234330951.

• Collar, N. J. & Robson C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70 – 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.