Simon Mahood et la découverte de la Couturière chaktomuk (du Cambodge)

Based on distinctive morphological and vocal characters, a new species of bird, the Cambodian Tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk), has been described from dense humid lowland scrub in the floodplain of the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers of Cambodia. All data suggest that the new species is most closely related to O. atrogularis, from which genetic differences are apparently of a level usually associated with subspecies. However the two taxa behave as biological species, existing locally in sympatry and even exceptionally in syntopy, without apparent hybridisation. The species is known so far from a small area within which its habitat is declining in area and quality. However, although birds are found in a number of small habitat fragments (including within the city limits of Phnom Penh), most individuals probably occupy one large contiguous area of habitat in the Tonle Sap floodplain. 
We have interviewed Simon Mahood (Wildlife Conservation Society), the main author of the official description that was published in the issue 29 of the Forktail Journal, about this discovery.
We thank Jonathan Charles Eames (Birdlife International) and Ashish John  (Wildlife Conservation Society) for their photos.