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Mourning babbler
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pellorneidae
Genus:	Pellorneum
Species:	P. malaccense
Binomial name
Pellorneum malaccense (Hartlaub, 1844)

The mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense), previously the short-tailed babbler, is a species of bird in the ground babbler family Pellorneidae. It is found in the Malay Peninsula, Anambas Islands, Sumatra, Banyak Islands, Batu Islands, Riau Islands, Lingga Islands and the Natuna Islands. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the glissando babbler (Pellorneum saturatum) and the leaflitter babbler (Pellorneum poliogene).

Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. The species is generally solitary, not joining larger mixed-species flocks, instead foraging as singles or pairs. They forage in the understory on the ground on a variety of insects including beetles, grasshoppers, and ants. Like other babblers they will use their foot to grasp food items, an unusual behaviour for passerine birds.

The mourning babbler is locally common at a number of places within its range but is considered near-threatened due to the loss of lowland forest in its range.

Taxonomy

The mourning babbler was formally described in 1844 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub. He placed it with the shortwings in the genus Brachypteryx and coined the binomial name Brachypteryx malaccesis. He specified the type locality as Malacca in Malaysia. The species is placed in the genus Pellorneum that was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William Swainson. The glissando babbler (Pellorneum saturatum) and the leaflitter babbler (Pellorneum poliogene) were formerly considered to be subspecies but are now treated as separate species based on their significant vocal and genetic differences. The mourning babbler is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Malacocinla malaccense". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.{{cite iucn}}: old-form url (help)
2. Hartlaub, Gustav (1844). Systematisches Verzeichniss der naturhistorichen Sammlung der Gesellschaft Museum. Erste Abtheilung. Vogel (in German). Bremen: C. Schünemann. p. 40.
3. Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 250.
4. Garg, K.M.; Chattopadhyay, B.; Cros, E.; Tomassi, S.; Benedick, S.; Edwards, D.P.; Rheindt, F.E. (2022). "Island biogeography revisited: museomics reveals affinities of Shelf Island birds determined by bathymetry and paleo-rivers, not by distance to mainland". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 39 (1): msab340. doi:10.1093/molbev/msab340. PMC 8789277.
5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "Babblers, scimitar babblers, ground babblers, Alcippe fulvettas". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 30 January 2024.

• 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.

• IUCN Red List near threatened species
• Pellorneum
• Birds of Malesia
• Birds described in 1844