Spotlight on Zoo Science
February 22, 2006
A Thrilling Find of the Avian Kind
National Zoo scientist and his colleagues discover a new species of bird in a remote region of Myanmar.
Few accomplishments are as thrilling to a biologist as discovering a new species. The National Zoo’s John Rappole recently enjoyed this experience when he found a new scimitar-babbler—a small bird reminiscent of a wren—in Myanmar (Burma).
 |
| The asterisk shows where the new bird species was discovered. |
In February 2004, Rappole, along with Swen Renner from the University of Goettingen, Germany, Nay Myo Shwe from the Myanmar Wildlife Division, and Paul Sweet from the American Museum of Natural History, trekked into a remote, roadless area of northern Myanmar along the border with Tibet. There, at the base of the Himalayas, they set up a camp in Naung Mung (see map at left), a village of about 400 people, in order to survey the birds in this biologically little-studied region.
Checking their mist nets on February 6, 2004, the team found the first specimen of the new species and, later that day, a second one. Two days later, they netted a third about a mile away. All were females.
Comparing these birds to published descriptions, they realized they represented a new species in the genus Jabouilleia. The only other member of this genus, called the short-tailed scimitar-babbler (J. danjoui), is native to parts of Laos and Vietnam, although what is probably a third species, as yet unnamed, was recently found in Vietnam.
 |
Naung Mung Scimitar-Babbler (Jabouilleia naungmungensis). Image courtesy of The Auk. |
One of the privileges of finding a new species is being able to name it. Rappole and his colleagues chose to name it after the nearby village, calling it the Naung Mung scimitar-babbler, or Jabouilleia naungmungensis. This name and the description of the species was published in the October 2005 issue of The Auk, the journal of the America Ornithologists' Union.
Based on the birds’ long, curved bills and relatively large feet, and what little is known about the short-tailed scimitar-babbler, the scientists suspect that they forage on the ground and use their bills to probe for food.
Despite extensive mist netting in the broader region, no other individuals of this species were captured. But the fact that three were netted so quickly suggests that the species may be fairly common in the temperate rainforest near Naung Mung. Unfortunately, this rainforest is not protected.
The region's remarkable biodiversity has only recently come into the limelight. Says Rappole, "Within the past decade, scientists have discovered a new species of deer, a new monkey, and several new species of plants, amphibians, and reptiles in this region. No other part of the world of which I am aware presents this combination of extraordinary richness and relative lack of scientific knowledge."
