The Bugun Liocichla, Liocichla bugunorum, is a passerine bird species from the Old World babbler family. The species was described in 2006 after being discovered in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India, by a profesional astronomer, Ramana Athreya. The species was first spotted in the sanctuary in 1995 but was not seen again for ten years. It was initially identified as a Grey-faced Liocichla, Liocichla omeiensis, a species of liocichla endemic to China. Birds caught in a mist net differed slightly from the Chinese liocichlas and the species was identified as new to science. Due to the apparent rarity of the species no type specimen was collected, instead feathers from the mist net and notes were used as the holotype. The species' common name is dervied from the Bugun Tribe on who's communal forests the species was discovered. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms (as opposed to folk taxonomy). ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Myxozoa (slime animals) Superphylum Deuterostomia (blastopore becomes anus) Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicatas Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Many - see section below. ... Families Many, see text A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. ... Genera almost 50: see text The Old World babblers are a large family of Old World passerine birds. ... Species . The Liocichla are a group of birds in the genus of the same name, Liocichla, from the Old World babbler family. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Families Many, see text A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ... Genera almost 50: see text The Old World babblers are a large family of Old World passerine birds. ... In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ... Arunachal Pradesh (Hindi: अरुणाचल प्रदेश) is a state of India. ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a person whose area of interest is astronomy or astrophysics. ... Binomial name Liocichla omeiensis (Riley, 1926) The Grey-faced Liocichla, Liocichla omeiensis, is a passerine bird in the Old World babbler family. ... In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... Mist nets are used by ornithologists to capture wild birds for banding or other research projects. ... This is the parent page for a series of pages listing bird species new to science described since 1900. ... In zoological nomenclature, a type is a specimen or a taxon. ... Two feathers A white feather Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. ...

The Bugun Liocichla is a small babbler (22 cm) with olive-grey plumage and a black cap. The face is marked with prominent orange-yellow lores, and the wings have yellow, red and white patches. The tail is black with a flame coloured underside and red tips. The feet are pink and the bill is black at the face fading to pale white. A second duller individual was mist netted, which is probably the female (Athreya, 2006). The voice is described as fluty and distinctive. Closeup on a single white feather A feather is one of the epidermal growths that forms the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on a bird. ...

All sightings of the species are on disturbed hillsides with shrubs and small trees, with the exception of one sighting on the edge of primary forest. Small flocks are observed during January, whereas pairs were observed in May. It is thought that pairs may hold and defend territories. Eucalyptus Forest at Swifts Creek in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. ...

The Bugun Liocichla is only currently known from one location. Populations may be discovered in other areas of Arunachal Pradesh or neighbouring Bhutan, but for a "spectacular bird" with distinctive calls to have been overlooked until 1995 suggests that the species is not common. Only three breeding pairs are currently known. While the species is capable of living in degraded forests its small population is considered threatened (although it has no current IUCN Red List status listing). The World Conservation Union or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. ...

References

• Birdlife International Bugun Liocichla: a sensational discovery in north-east India Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/9/2006
• BirdLife International (2006) Species factsheet: Liocichla omeiensis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/9/2006
• Athreya, R. (2006) "A new species of Liocichla (Aves: Timaliidae) from Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, India" Indian Birds 2(4): 82-94 [1]