''Zosterornis'' 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 white-eye

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 ...

Zosteropidae The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...

. The five species in the genus are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Zosterornis'' was introduced in 1894 by the Scottish ornithologist

William Robert Ogilvie-Grant William Robert Ogilvie-Grant (25 March 1863 – 26 July 1924) was a Scottish ornithologist. Early life and education Grant was born on 25 March 1863 as the second son of Capt. the Hon. George Henry Essex Ogilvy-Grant, of Easter Elchies, Craigel ...

to accommodate his newly described species, the chestnut-faced babbler, which thus becomes 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 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 ...

''zōstēr'' meaning "belt" with ''ornis'' meaning "bird". These species were formerly included in the genus ''

Stachyris ''Stachyris'' is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World babbler family, Timaliidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Stachyris'' was introduced in 1844 in an article by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in which he quotes a diagnosis by Brian Houghton ...

'' in the Old World babblers family Timaliidae. They were moved to their own genus ''Zosterornis'' in the white-eye family

based on

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 ...

studies published in the first decade of the 21st century. The genus contains the following five species: * Chestnut-faced babbler, ''Zosterornis whiteheadi'' * Luzon striped babbler, ''Zosterornis striatus'' * Panay striped babbler, ''Zosterornis latistriatus'' *

Negros striped babbler The Negros striped babbler (''Zosterornis nigrorum'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to Negros Island in the Philippines. Its natural habitat is tropical moist montane forest in the range of 900–1,600 masl. It is ...

, ''Zosterornis nigrorum'' * Palawan striped babbler, ''Zosterornis hypogrammicus''

References

Bird genera Zosteropidae Endemic birds of the Philippines Taxa named by William Robert Ogilvie-Grant {{Zosteropidae-stub