''Phyllastrephus'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

in the bulbul

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. 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 Swainson William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swains ...

in 1832 with ''Le Jaboteur'' ( Levaillant), now the terrestrial brownbul, as 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 ...

. 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 ...

''phullon '' meaning "leaf" with ''strephō'' meaning "to toss" or "to turn".

Species

The genus contains the following 20 species:

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 Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...

. Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Phyllastrephus'': * Honeyguide greenbul (as ''Phyllastrephus indicator'') * Simple greenbul (as ''Pyrrhurus simplex'') * Swamp palm bulbul (as ''Phyllastrephus leucopleurus'')

References

Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by William Swainson {{Pycnonotidae-stub