Brachypteraciidae

Brachypteracias squamigera
Scaly Ground-roller
Geschubde Grondscharrelaar (Dutch)

ZMA 722
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Vulnerable A large bird with thrush-like shape and behaviour (but totally unrelated), foraging in thick leave-litter on the floor of undisturbed damp primary forest with dense undergrowth. Restricted to the lowland rainforest of E Madagascar, a habitat already scarce before the arrival of men on the island, especially in the southern half. The lowland forest is degraded by slash-and-burn cultivation by local farmers, resulting in bracken-covered grassland unsuitable for forest birds, with further declines in forest extent by timber extraction and the development of settlements. The species will disappear within a few decades if the present rate of forest conversion is maintained.

Items in the ZMA - 1 bird:
ZMA 722 Male, 26 Apr 1878, 'Lavary' or 'Savary' [poorly readible; not traced], Madagascar, coll. J.P. Audebert, formerly mounted.

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