''Psilopogon'' 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 ...

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

barbets that used to include only a single species, the

fire-tufted barbet The fire-tufted barbet (''Psilopogon pyrolophus'') is a species of bird in the Asian barbet family (biology), family Megalaimidae. It is native to Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, where it inhabits tropical moist lowland and montane forests. It h ...

(''P. pyrolophus''). Results of molecular

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses indicate that the genus is nested within an

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

ary branch consisting of Asian barbets that were formerly placed in the genus ''Megalaima'' proposed by

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

in 1841. Since ''Psilopogon'' was proposed by

Salomon Müller Salomon Müller (7 April 1804 – 29 December 1864) was a German natural history, naturalist. He was born in Heidelberg, and died in Freiburg im Breisgau. Müller was the son of a saddler in Heidelberg. Along with Heinrich Boie and Heinrich Christi ...

already in 1835, this name takes priority. The name ''Psilopogon'' 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 ...

''psilos'' meaning "bare" and ''pōgōn'' meaning "beard".

Taxonomy

The genus ''Psilopogon'' was introduced in 1836 by the German naturalist

to accommodate a single species, the

(''Psilopogon pyrolophus''), which is therefore the

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 ...

. In the 19th and 20th centuries, about 19 generic names were proposed for Asian barbet species in collections of

natural history museums A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

, including ''Megalaima'' by

in 1849 and ''Mezobucco'' by

George Ernest Shelley Captain George Ernest Shelley (15 May 1840 – 29 November 1910) was an England, English geologist and ornithologist. He was a nephew of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley was educated at the Lycée de Versailles and served a few years in ...

in 1889.

Molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

research of Asian barbets revealed that the ''Megalaima'' species form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

, which also includes the fire-tufted barbet. Barbets formerly placed in ''Megalaima'' were therefore reclassified under the genus ''Psilopogon'', which now contains the following 33 species: As of February 2023, the list of birds maintained by Frank Gill,

Pamela Rasmussen Pamela Cecile Rasmussen (born October 16, 1959) is an American ornithology, ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is based at the Michigan State Uni ...

and David Donsker on behalf of the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC) as well as the Clements Checklist of Birds of the World maintained by members of Cornell University both treat ''Psilopogon cyanotis'' as a subspecies of ''Psilopogon duvaucellii''. The taxon ''Psilopogon cyanotis'' was not included in the 2013 molecular phylogenetic study by Robert Jan den Tex and Jennifer Leonard.

Phylogeny

References

{{Taxonbar , from=Q10809413 Bird genera Taxa named by Salomon Müller Taxonomy articles created by Polbot