''Chlorocichla'' is a genus of

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

in the

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

family, Pycnonotidae. They are mainly present throughout the African tropical rainforest, excepted the yellow-bellied greenbul, native to the

miombo Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located in central and southern tropical Africa. It includes three woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) chara ...

woodlands.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Chlorocichla'' was introduced in 1882 by the English ornithologist

Richard Bowdler Sharpe Richard Bowdler Sharpe (22 November 1847 – 25 December 1909) was an English people, English zoologist and ornithology, ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his car ...

. Sharpe did not specify a

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

but this was designated as the yellow-bellied greenbul by

Anton Reichenow Anton Reichenow (1 August 1847 in Charlottenburg – 6 July 1941 in Hamburg) was a German ornithologist and Herpetology, herpetologist. Reichenow was the son-in-law of Jean Cabanis, and worked at the Natural History Museum, Berlin, Natural Histor ...

in 1904–1905. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''khlōros'' meaning "pale green" or "yellow" with ''kikhlē'' meaning "thrush".

Species

The genus contains five species: * Joyful greenbul (''Chlorocichla laetissima'') * Prigogine's greenbul (''Chlorocichla prigoginei'') *

Falkenstein's greenbul Falkenstein's greenbul (''Chlorocichla falkensteini'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found from western Cameroon and Central African Republic to central Angola. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropi ...

(''Chlorocichla falkensteini'') * Yellow-bellied greenbul (''Chlorocichla flaviventris'') * Simple greenbul (''Chlorocichla simplex'')

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Chlorocichla'': *

Honeyguide greenbul The honeyguide greenbul (''Baeopogon indicator'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is widespread throughout the African tropical rainforest. Taxonomy and systematics The honeyguide greenbul was originally describe ...

(as ''Chlorocichla indicator'', now ''Baeopogon indicator'') *

Yellow-throated leaflove The yellow-gorgeted greenbul (''Atimastillas flavicollis''), formerly known as the yellow-throated leaflove, is a species of passerine bird in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. It is found in West Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tr ...

(as ''Chlorocichla flavicollis'', now ''Atimastillas flavicollis'')

References

Bird genera Greenbuls Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pycnonotidae-stub