| Munia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Chestnut-breasted munia Lonchura castaneothorax | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Estrildidae |
| Genus: | Lonchura Sykes, 1832 |
| Type species | |
| Fringilla nisoria = Loxia punctulata nisoria Temminck 1830
| |
| Species | |
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See text | |
Lonchura is a genus of the estrildid finch family, and includes munias (or minias) and mannikins. They are seed-eating birds that are found in South Asia from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines. The name mannikin is from Middle Dutch mannekijn 'little man', and also the source of the common name of the family Pipridae, manakin.[1]
Some of the Lonchura species were formerly placed in Spermestes. Others have been placed in a genus of their own, Euodice.
- ^ New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed., 2005), p. 1032.