Silver-eared Mesia

The silver-eared mesia (Leiothrix argentauris) is a species of bird from South East Asia. == Taxonomy and distribution == The species was once placed in the large Old World babbler family Timaliidae, but that family has recently been split with this species being placed with the laughingthrushes in the new family Leiothrichidae. The species is sometimes placed in its own genus Mesia, or in the genus Leiothrix with the red-billed leiothrix. There are seven described subspecies, with considerable variation in plumage between them. Further research is needed to establish if this represents a single species or not. The subspecies and their distributions are: M argentauris argentauris (Hodgson, 1837) - Northern and eastern India, Bhutan, northern Burma and southern China. M argentauris galbana (Mayr & Greenway, 1938) - Southern Burma and northern Thailand M argentauris ricketti (La Touche, 1923) - China (Yunnan, Guixhou & Guangxi), and northern Laos and Vietnam. M argentauris cunhaci (Robinson & Kloss, 1919) - Southern Laos & Vietnam, Cambodia. M argentauris tahanensis (Yen Kwokyung, 1934) - Southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. M argentauris rookmakeri (Junge, 1948) - Northern Sumatra. M argentauris laurinae (Salvadori, 1879) - Southern Sumatra. The species is generally resident although it has been reported…