Garrulax


Garrulax is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae.
The genus Garrulax was erected by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831. The type species was designated in 1961 as Garrulax rufifrons Lesson, the rufous-fronted laughingthrush.
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.
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. Much of the trade in these species in Indonesia is illegal and is pushing a number of these species towards extinction. 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.

Species

The genus contains the following 14 species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Lesser necklaced laughingthrushGarrulax monilegerBangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Rufous-fronted laughingthrushGarrulax rufifronsJava
White-crested laughingthrushGarrulax leucolophusIndia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, China, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Black-hooded laughingthrushGarrulax milletiLaos and Vietnam
Sumatran laughingthrushGarrulax bicolorSumatra
White-necked laughingthrushGarrulax strepitansYunnan, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand
Cambodian laughingthrushGarrulax ferrariusCambodia
Grey laughingthrushGarrulax maesisouthern China
Rufous-cheeked laughingthrushGarrulax castanotisChina, Laos, and Vietnam
Sunda laughingthrushGarrulax palliatusBrunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia
Chinese hwameiGarrulax canorussouth-eastern and central China and in northern and central Vietnam and Laos
Taiwan hwameiGarrulax taewanusTaiwan
Spot-breasted laughingthrushGarrulax merulinusYunnan, Northeast India, Laos, Myanmar, north-west Thailand, and northern Vietnam
Orange-breasted laughingthrushGarrulax annamensisVietnam