New species of laughingthrush (cf Dutch Birding 22: 172, 2000)

After the description of Golden-winged Laughingthrush Garrulax ngoclinhensis from the Western (= Central) Highlands of Vietnam (cf Dutch Birding 21: 128, 1999), Jonathan Eames and his colleagues recently described yet another new laughingthrush from the Central Highlands: Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush G konkakinhensis, named after its type locality, Mount Kon Ka Kinh, Gia Lai province, Vietnam (Eames, J C & Eames, C 2001. A new species of Laughingthrush (Passeriformes: Garrulacinae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Bull BOC 121: 10-23). This new species appears to belong to a species group together with Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush G rufogularis (and two other species). Although the new species resembles the western subspecies of rufogularis, it shows several unique plumage features warranting its separation as a species. It occurs from 1600 m to the top of Mount Kon Ka Kinh at 1748 m. Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush is currently only known from Mount Kon Ka Kinh but it seems likely to occur also in the adjacent province of Kon Tum and, since its habitat (primary upper montane evergreen forests) at this particular altitudinal range also extends across the border, it may also be found in Laos. The three sites where the holotype and paratypes have been collected are included in the recently established Mount Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve so it seems that the future of this population can be secured.
André J van Loon