Microtarsus
| Microtarsus | |
|---|---|
| Black-headed bulbul (Microtarsus melanocephalos) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Pycnonotidae |
| Genus: | Microtarsus Eyton, 1839 |
| Type species | |
| Microtarsus melanoleucos Eyton, 1839
| |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Microtarsus is a genus of passerine birds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae, that are found in South and Southeast Asia.
Taxonomy
The genus Microtarsus was introduced in 1839 by the English naturalist Thomas Campbell Eyton to accommodate a single species, Microtarsus melanoleucos Eyton, the black-and-white bulbul. This is the type species.[1][2] The species now placed in this genus were formerly included in the genus Pycnonotus. A molecular phylogenetic study of the bulbul family published in 2017 found that Pycnonotus was polyphyletic.[3] In the revision to create monophyletic genera Microtarsus was resurrected to contain the black-headed bulbul that was previously placed in Pycnonotus.[4] In 2025 AviList adopted more inclusive genera and merged Brachypodius, Euptilotus and Poliolophus into Microtarsus.[5]
The genus contains seven species:[5]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puff-backed bulbul | Microtarsus eutilotus | Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bangka Island, and Borneo | |
| Black-and-white bulbul | Microtarsus melanoleucos | southern Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Siberut Island, and Borneo | |
| Yellow-wattled bulbul | Microtarsus urostictus | Philippines (except Palawan group, Mindoro, most of Western Visayas and Sulu Archipelago) | |
| Grey-headed bulbul | Microtarsus priocephalus | southwestern peninsular India (southern Maharashtra and Goa to western Mysore and Kerala) | |
| Black-headed bulbul | Microtarsus melanocephalos | east Bangladesh and northeast India through south China, Vietnam, Borneo, Java and Bali | |
| Andaman bulbul | Microtarsus fuscoflavescens | Andaman Islands | |
| Blue-wattled bulbul | Microtarsus nieuwenhuisii | Sumatra and Borneo |
References
- ^ Eyton, Thomas Campbell (1839). "Catalogue of a collection of birds from Malaya, with descriptions of the new species". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 7: 100-107 [102].
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 223.
- ^ Shakya, Subir B.; Sheldon, Frederick H. (2017). "The phylogeny of the world's bulbuls (Pycnonotidae) inferred using a supermatrix approach". Ibis. 159 (3): 498–509. doi:10.1111/ibi.12464.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Bulbuls". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ^ a b AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.