Brown Prinia
Prinia polychroa (Temminck, 1828)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The brown prinia (Prinia polychroa) is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. The Burmese prinia (P. cooki) and the Annam prinia (P. rocki) were formerly lumped with this species. It is found in mainland Southeast Asia, namely in most of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, as well as on the Indonesian island of Java. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest. Populations in Myanmar, far western Thailand, far western Laos, and southern China are now considered to belong to P. cooki, while populations in the Đà Lạt Plateau of Vietnam and far eastern Cambodia are now considered to belong P. rocki. There are two recognised subspecies: P. p. deignani, which is found in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and P. p. polychroa, which is restricted to Java. P. p. deignani was formerly considered an eastern population of P. p. cooki (when it was considered a subspecies) until the 2019 study, which split the Burmese and south Chinese populations as P. cooki while reclassifying the Thai, Laotian, and Cambodian populations into a new subspecies, P. p.
Wikipedia contributors, Brown prinia; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:20:39.487667+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Prinia polychroa (Temminck, 1828)
- Name authority
- (Temminck, 1828)
- Common name
- Brown Prinia
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cisticolidae
- Genus
- Prinia
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyCisticolidae Sundevall, 1872
- genusPrinia Horsfield, 1821
- speciesPrinia polychroa (Temminck, 1828)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Prinia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Grey-crowned PriniaPrinia cinereocapilla Moore, 1854 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Prinia crinigera Hodgson, 1836 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-chested PriniaPrinia flavicans (Vieillot, 1821) | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-bellied PriniaPrinia flaviventris (Delessert, 1840) | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Graceful PriniaPrinia gracilis (Lichtenstein, 1823) | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Grey-breasted PriniaPrinia hodgsonii Blyth, 1844 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Plain PriniaPrinia inornata Sykes, 1832 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Karoo PriniaPrinia maculosa (Boddaert, 1783) | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-faced PriniaPrinia melanops (Reichenow & Neumann, 1895) | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rufescent PriniaPrinia rufescens Blyth, 1847 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tawny-flanked PriniaPrinia subflava (Gmelin, 1789) | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Jungle PriniaPrinia sylvatica Jerdon, 1840 | CisticolidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=562449 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4MDWV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.