# Chestnut-breasted mannikin (*Lonchura castaneothorax*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/chestnut-breasted-mannikin  
Data as of: 2026-11-13

The chestnut-breasted mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax) is a bird in the family Estrildidae, placed with songbirds and other perching birds. It is a small, sedentary granivore, and its habitat is wetland. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), a global assessment that is not a threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 10.5 g – 13.6 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Diet | Granivore |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4.9 |
| Lifestyle | Generalist |
| Migration | Sedentary |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 4 countries. Introduced: French Polynesia, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Estrildidae
- genus: Lonchura
- species: *Lonchura castaneothorax* (Gould, 1837)

Synonyms: *Amadina castaneothorax*

## Common questions

### What is the scientific name of the chestnut-breasted mannikin?

Its scientific name is Lonchura castaneothorax, written (Gould, 1837) for the authority. It is also called the chestnut-breasted munia.

### What does the chestnut-breasted mannikin eat?

It is a granivore, and its trophic level is herbivore.

### What habitat does the chestnut-breasted mannikin use?

Its habitat is wetland. It is sedentary.

### Is the chestnut-breasted mannikin endangered?

No. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern (LC), a global assessment, and this is not a threatened category.

### How many eggs does the chestnut-breasted mannikin lay?

The sheet gives 5 eggs per clutch.

### Is the chestnut-breasted mannikin an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the chestnut-breasted mannikin as introduced in 4 countries: French Polynesia, United Kingdom, Vanuatu and Wallis & Futuna, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Chestnut-breasted mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/chestnut-breasted-mannikin