White-headed Munia

SCI Name:  Lonchura maja
Protonym:  Loxia maja Syst.Nat.ed.12 ed.12 p.301
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Estrildidae / Lonchura
Taxonomy Code:  whhmun1
Type Locality:  East Indies; restricted to Malacca by Robinson and Kloss, 1924, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 5, p. 362.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1766
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

LONCHURA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Scaly-breasted Munia L. punctulata) Gr. λογχη lonkhē  spear-head, lance; ουρα oura  tail; "Genus LONCHURA. Rostrum forte, breve, latum, altitudine ad basin longitudinem æquans; mandibulis integris, superiori in frontem angulariter extendente cumque eo circuli arcum formante.  Alæ mediocres, subacuminatæ; remigibus, 1ma brevissima subspuria, 2da 3tia 4taque fere æqualibus longissimis.  Cauda gradata, lanceolata; rectricibus mediis cæteras paullo longitudine superantibus.  Pedes mediocres, subgraciles.   The peculiar spear-head form of the tail, and the ridge of the upper mandible and the forehead, forming a segment of the same circle, together with the habits of the following species, afford sufficient characteristics to justify their separation from the genus Fringilla of M. Temminck. The Gros-bec longicone of the Pl. Col. 96. (Emb. quadricolor, Lath.) belongs to the same group.   109. Lonchura nisoria. Fringilla nisoria, Temm. Gros-bec épervin. Pl. Col. 500. Fig. 2.  ...  110. LONCHURA CHEET.  ...  111. Lonchura leuconota. Fringilla leuconota, Temm. Gros-bec leuconote, Pl. Col. 500, fig. 1." (Sykes 1832); "Lonchura Sykes, 1832, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 94. Type, by original designation, Fringilla nisoria Temminck = Loxia punctulata Linnaeus. Not preoccupied by Lonchurus Bloch, 1793 (Pisces)." (Paynter in Peters 1968, XIV, 372 (erroneous typification)); "LONCHURA Sykes, 1832 F - Fringilla nisoria Sykes, 1832; type by subsequent designation (Sharpe, 1890, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 13, p. 326). = Loxia punctulata Linnaeus, 1758" (Dickinson & Christidis (eds.) 2014, 297).
Synon. Dermophrys, Diacmura, Donacola, Maia, Mayrimunia, Munia, Oryzivora, Oryzornis, Oxycerca, Padda, Trichogrammoptila, Uroloncha, Weebongia.

maja
Tagalog (Philippines) name Maya for a munia (Desmond Allen, pers. comm.) (McGregor 1910, lists Mája and Maíya as local names on Bohol and Ticao respectively). “There is another sort of small Birds, especially in the Island Cuba, that fly in flocks, and waste the fields or plantations of Rice, (which grain grows abundantly, and is of much use in those Countries) called Maia, of a fulvous colour” (Ray 1678 (Mexican names Maja or Maia for an unknown finch, the ‘ricebird’ (Hernandez 1615))); ex “Malacca Grosbeak” of Edwards 1760, and “Maia de la Chine” of Brisson 1760 (Lonchura).

Maia
(Estrildidae; syn. Lonchura † White-headed Munia L. maja) Specific name Loxia maja Linnaeus, 1766; Reichenbach's 1850, plate LXXVI, labelled Passerinae: Fringillinae Ploceinae, shows a variety of weavers, waxbills and finches, including a munia with a white head; G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 76 (sub nom. Maja), gives Loxia molucca Linnaeus, 1766, as the type, but Reichenbach's figure cannot be identified with the Black-faced Munia; "XXXII. Munia, Fortsetzung.   b. Maia RCHB. Nat. Syst. t. LXXVI.   Kopf weiss: Nonnen.   130—32. M. Maja (Loxia L. GM. 849.11.) HODGSON.   ...   134—35.  M. ferruginosa (Loxia—  SPARRM. Mus. Carlson. t. 90— 91.) RCHB. " (Reichenbach 1862); "Maia Reichenbach, 1862, Die Singvögel, I, p. 40.  Type, by tautonymy and subsequent designation (Sharpe, 1890, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XIII, p. 326), Loxia maja Linnaeus, 1766." (JAJ 2021).
Var. Maja.

SUBSPECIES

White-headed Munia (maja)
SCI Name: Lonchura maja maja
maja
Tagalog (Philippines) name Maya for a munia (Desmond Allen, pers. comm.) (McGregor 1910, lists Mája and Maíya as local names on Bohol and Ticao respectively). “There is another sort of small Birds, especially in the Island Cuba, that fly in flocks, and waste the fields or plantations of Rice, (which grain grows abundantly, and is of much use in those Countries) called Maia, of a fulvous colour” (Ray 1678 (Mexican names Maja or Maia for an unknown finch, the ‘ricebird’ (Hernandez 1615))); ex “Malacca Grosbeak” of Edwards 1760, and “Maia de la Chine” of Brisson 1760 (Lonchura).

White-headed Munia (vietnamensis)
SCI Name: Lonchura maja vietnamensis
vietnamensis
Vietnam.