Black-faced Munia

About the Black-faced Munia

The black-faced munia (Lonchura molucca) is a species of estrildid finch found in Indonesia and East Timor. It occurs in a wide range of habitats including artificial landscapes (e.g. parks and gardens), forest, grassland and savannah. It was first described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae in 1766. The IUCN has evaluated the status of this bird as being of least concern.

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the black-faced munia in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Maluku Islands. He used the French name Le gros-bec de Moluques and the Latin Coccothraustes Moluccensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the black-faced munia. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Loxia molucca and cited Brisson's work. The specific... Wikipedia →