Phyllastrephus Explained

Phyllastrephus is a songbird genus in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. Most of the species in the genus are typical greenbuls, though two are brownbuls, and one is a leaflove.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Phyllastrephus was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1832 with Le Jaboteur (Levaillant), now the terrestrial brownbul, as the type species.^{[1] [2]} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek phullon meaning "leaf" with strephō meaning "to toss" or "to turn".^[3]

Species

The genus contains the following 20 species:

• Lowland tiny greenbul (Phyllastrephus debilis)
• Montane tiny greenbul (Phyllastrephus albigula)
• White-throated greenbul (Phyllastrephus albigularis)
• Xavier's greenbul (Phyllastrephus xavieri)
• Icterine greenbul (Phyllastrephus icterinus)
• Terrestrial brownbul (Phyllastrephus terrestris)
• Cameroon olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus poensis)
• Northern brownbul (Phyllastrephus strepitans)
• Grey-olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus cerviniventris)
• Fischer's greenbul (Phyllastrephus fischeri)
• Cabanis's greenbul (Phyllastrephus cabanisi)
• Placid greenbul (Phyllastrephus placidus)
• Red-tailed leaflove (Phyllastrephus scandens)
• Sassi's olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus lorenzi)
• Yellow-streaked greenbul (Phyllastrephus flavostriatus)
• Sharpe's greenbul (Phyllastrephus alfredi)
• Grey-headed greenbul (Phyllastrephus poliocephalus)
• Toro olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus hypochloris)
• Baumann's olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus baumanni)
• Pale-olive greenbul (Phyllastrephus fulviventris)

Former species

Several species from Madagascar that were formerly placed in the genus Phyllastrephus have now been moved into Bernieria and Xanthomixis. Commonly called the Bernieria and the tetrakas, these species are not bulbuls but Malagasy warblers similar to greenbuls due to convergent evolution. Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Phyllastrephus:

• Honeyguide greenbul (as Phyllastrephus indicator)^[4]
• Simple greenbul (as Pyrrhurus simplex)^[5]
• Swamp palm bulbul (as Phyllastrephus leucopleurus)^[6]

Notes and References

1. Book: Swainson . William John . William John Swainson . Richardson . J. . John Richardson (naturalist) . 1831 . Fauna Boreali-Americana, or, The Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America . Part 2. The Birds . J. Murray . London . 486 . The title page bears the year 1831 but the volume did not appear until 1832.
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Greenway . James C. Jr . 1960 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 9 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 263 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 305 .
4. Book: The Ibis. 1906-01-01. British Ornithologists' Union. en.
5. Web site: Chlorocichla simplex - Avibase. avibase.bsc-eoc.org. 2017-04-16.
6. Web site: Thescelocichla leucopleura - Avibase. avibase.bsc-eoc.org. 2017-04-18.