Trochalopteron is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae.
The genus Trochalopteron was introduced in 1843 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth.[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek trokhalos meaning "round" or "bowed" with pteron meaning "wing".[2] The type species was designated in 1930 by E. C. Stuart Baker as the scaly laughingthrush.[3] [4]
The genus contains the following 19 species:[5]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trochalopteron austeni | Patkai range, India | ||
| Trochalopteron subunicolor | Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam. | ||
| Trochalopteron lineatum | Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. | ||
| Trochalopteron virgatum | Patkai range, India | ||
| Trochalopteron squamatum | Eastern Himalaya, Yunnan, Myanmar and Laos | ||
| Trochalopteron variegatum | Bhutan, India, Nepal and Tibet. | ||
| Trochalopteron affine | eastern Nepal eastwards to Arunachal Pradesh in India and further to Myanmar, along with Bhutan and southeastern Tibet. | ||
| Trochalopteron elliotii | central China and far northeastern India. | ||
| Trochalopteron henrici | southwestern China and northeastern India | ||
| Trochalopteron morrisonianum | Taiwan. | ||
| Trochalopteron erythrocephalum | Bhutan, China, India, and Nepal. | ||
| Trochalopteron yersini | Vietnam. | ||
| Trochalopteron milnei | China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. | ||
| Trochalopteron formosum | China (Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces) and north-west Vietnam. | ||
| Trochalopteron imbricatum | Bhutan and some adjoining areas in India. | ||
| Trochalopteron chrysopterum | Northeast India and adjacent southwest China and Myanmar. | ||
| Trochalopteron melanostigma | southern Yunnan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. | ||
| Trochalopteron ngoclinhense | Vietnam. | ||
| Trochalopteron peninsulae | southern Thailand and peninsular Malaysia. | ||
Two species that were formerly included in this genus have been moved to Montecincla based on phylogenetic studies that showed them to be more distantly related to the Trochalopteron clade than to a clade formed by species in the genera Leiothrix, Actinodura, Minla, Crocias and Heterophasia.[6]