The tricolored munia was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia malacca.

If a female accepts the courtship she will lower herself to an almost horizontal position with both tail and head turned towards the male, consenting to coition.

While the Munia were being imported to Venezuela, the father of Dr. Fernandez, who goes by the same name, believed that they would become established and pests if they were continuously released by birdkeepers who did not want them.

The survival rate of maturing Munias in Venezuela became close to those of the local bird species, allowing there to be a “population explosion” in the coming decade.

[10] Initially, the Munias struggled to survive during the dry seasons in the reedbeds and marshes at the edges of Lago de Valencia, Venezuela due to drought conditions.

The lake shrunk, acting as a water source for a city, and rice fields in the south could not provide much relief, being a seasonal crop.

This species likes to inhabit warm environments that are both near pools of water and grain or rice fields.

A study done by Raul E. Sedano-Cruz, a researcher affiliated with the Hospital Universitario del Valle, showed the birds’ speciality in rice fields, as they failed to colonize the Centro Internacional de Agricultural (CIAT) because of the severe reduction in rice fields.

[11] Axel Fuentes-Moreno, holding a bachelor of science in the Colegio de Postgraduados, believes that one of the major characteristics that has favored the tricolored munia to become highly invasive is its reproductive strategy.

Not only that but the tricolored munia also prefers to build these nests over vegetation that is surrounded by water, decreasing predation by snakes or mammals.

As well, it was observed that post-fledgling Munias have a survival rate that is as high as the local bird species, in part to its behavior against tropic predators.

In Robin Restall’s 1997 book Munias and Mannikins, the Tricolored-Munia was described as a breeding resident in Hong Kong’s Mai Po marshes, but it was observed that there seemed to be a decline in the population.

[8] Later, in a 2003 magazine article written by Restall, the Munia was said to be classified as exotic and feral in Venezuela, although they were also established and sold as pets under the advertisement of being “locally-caught”.