In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the white-rumped munia in his Ornithologie based on a specimen that he believed had been collected from the Isle de Bourbon (Réunion).

[3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

[4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.

[10] The white-rumped munia is a common resident breeder ranging from the Indian subcontinent to southern China east to Taiwan, and through Southeast Asia south to Sumatra; it frequents open woodland, grassland and scrub, and is well able to adapt to agricultural land use.

As it is a drab-coloured and rather reclusive bird inhabiting dense undergrowth, the white-rumped munia is not necessarily conspicuous even where it occurs in considerable numbers.