''Ixos'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

birds 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 Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pycnonotidae The bulbuls are members of a family (biology), family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized perching bird, passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and in ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus ''Ixos'' was introduced in 1825 by the Dutch zoologist

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch patrician, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. Fro ...

to accommodate the Javan bulbul. The genus name is 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 ...

for "mistletoe". Some authorities have advocated a complete merger of the genus ''Ixos'' with ''Hypsipetes'' – and even the entire "''Hypsipetes'' group" of bulbuls, which also includes '' Hemixos'', ''

Iole In Greek mythology, Iole (; ) was the daughter of King Eurytus of Oechalia. According to the brief epitome in the ''Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Bibliotheca'', Eurytus had a beautiful young daughter named Iole who was eligible for marriage ...

'' and '' Tricholestes''. Being the oldest

genus name Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial spec ...

, ''Ixos'' would apply to all of them, rather than ''Hypsipetes'' as is often believed.Gregory (2000), Pasquet ''et al.'' (2001), Moyle & Marks (2006) This re-classification seems hardly appropriate however, since ''

Alophoixus ''Alophoixus'' is a genus of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae found in south-eastern Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Extant species Up to 2009, all the extant species of the genus ''Alophoixus'' were classified within the genus ''Cr ...

'' and '' Setornis'' cannot be excluded from the "''Hypsipetes'' group", and an all-out merge would turn the resultant "genus" ''Ixos'' into an ill-defined " wastebin taxon". The erroneous inclusion of ''I. virescens'' in ''Hypsipetes'' has caused the Nicobar bulbul to be listed under its invalid

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

''H. nicobariensis'' rather than the valid names ''H. virescens'' or ''I. nicobariensis''.

Extant species

There are five extant species in the genus ''Ixos'':

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Ixos'': * Nicobar bulbul (as ''Ixos nicobariensis'') * Cream-striped bulbul (as ''Ixos leucogrammicus'') * Spot-necked bulbul (as ''Ixos tympanistrigus'') * Grey-headed bulbul (as ''Ixos Fisquetti'') * Scaly-breasted bulbul (as ''Ixos squamatus'') * Red-whiskered bulbul (pyrrhotis) (as ''Ixos pyrrhotis'') * Red-whiskered bulbul (emeria) (as ''Ixos emeria'') * Chinese red-whiskered bulbul (as ''Ixos monticola'') * Brown-breasted bulbul (andersoni) (as ''Ixus Andersoni'') * Light-vented bulbul (hainanus) (as ''Ixus hainanus'') * White-eared bulbul (as ''Ixos leucotis'') * Sooty-headed bulbul (germani) (as ''Ixus Germani'') * White-spectacled bulbul (as ''Ixus xanthopygos'') * Common bulbul (as ''Ixos inornatus'') * Dark-capped bulbul (as ''Ixos tricolor'') * Pale-eyed bulbul (as ''Ixus Davisoni'') * Yellow-throated bulbul (as ''Ixos xantholaemus'') * Yellow-vented bulbul (gourdini) (as ''Ixos gourdini'') * Spectacled bulbul (as ''Ixos erythropthalmos'') *

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 ''Ixus flavicollis'') *

Yellow-bellied bulbul The yellow-bellied bulbul (''Alophoixus phaeocephalus'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. T ...

(as ''Ixos phaeocephalus'') * Sulphur-bellied bulbul (as ''Ixos palawanensis'') * Seram golden bulbul (as ''Ixos affinis'') * Philippine bulbul (as ''Ixos philippinus'') * Mindoro bulbul (as ''Ixos mindorensis'') * Visayan bulbul (as ''Ixos guimarasensis'') * Zamboanga bulbul (as ''Ixos rufigularis'') * Streak-breasted bulbul (as ''Ixos siquijorensis'') * Yellowish bulbul (as ''Ixos everetti'') *

Brown-eared bulbul The brown-eared bulbul (''Hypsipetes amaurotis'') is a medium-sized bulbul native to eastern Asia. It is extremely common within the northern parts of its range and can be found from southern Sakhalin to the northern Philippines. Taxonomy and ...

(as ''Ixos amaurotis'')

Footnotes

References

* Gregory, Steven M. (2000): Nomenclature of the Hypsipetes Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae). '' Forktail'' 16: 164–166
PDF fulltext
* Moyle, Robert G. & Marks, Ben D. (2006): Phylogenetic relationships of the bulbuls (Aves: Pycnonotidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 40(3): 687–695. (HTML abstract) * Pasquet, Éric; Han, Lian-Xian; Khobkhet, Obhas & Cibois, Alice (2001): Towards a molecular systematics of the genus ''Criniger'', and a preliminary phylogeny of the bulbuls (Aves, Passeriformes, Pycnonotidae). ''Zoosystema'' 23(4): 857–863
PDF fulltext
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1061823 Bulbuls Bird genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot