The Bornean bulbul (''Rubigula montis'') is a member of 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, tropical ...

family of

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 are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s. It is endemic to the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Bornean bulbul was previously placed in genus ''

Pycnonotus ''Pycnonotus'' is a genus of frugivorous passerine birds in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Pycnonotus'' was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the Cape bulbul as the type speci ...

''. This genus was found to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

in recent molecular phylogenetic studies and five

species, including the Bornean bulbul, moved to ''Rubigula''. Until 2008, the Bornean bulbul was considered as

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

with the black-capped, black-crested, ruby-throated and

flame-throated bulbul The flame-throated bulbul (''Rubigula gularis'') is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds and the state bird of Goa. It is found only in the forests of the Western Ghats in southern India. Formerly included as a subspecies of ''Pycno ...

s. Some authorities have considered the Bornean bulbul to be a subspecies of the black-capped bulbul.

Description

The Bornean bulbul has a black crest, yellow throat, and brownish eyes.

Distribution and habitat

This is a bird of forest and dense scrub. It builds its nest in a bush; two to four eggs are a typical clutch.

Behaviour and ecology

The Bornean bulbul feeds on fruit and insects.

References

*Rasmussen, P.C., and J.C. Anderton. (2005). ''Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2: Attributes and Status.'' Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, Washington D.C. and Barcelona. {{Taxonbar, from=Q10809674 Rubigula Endemic birds of Borneo Birds described in 1879