Hypsipetes is a genus of bulbuls, songbirds in the family Pycnonotidae. Most of its species occur in tropical forests around the Indian Ocean. But while the genus is quite diverse in the Madagascar region at the western end of its range it does not reach the African mainland.
Most Hypsipetes bulbuls are dark greyish birds with orange or red bills and feet. The feathers on top of the head are slightly elongated and usually black, and can be erected to form a short and wispy crest.
Taxonomy and systematics
The genus Hypsipetes was introduced in 1831 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors with Hypsipetes psaroides as the type species.[1] This taxon is now a subspecies of the black bulbulHypsipetes leucocephalus psaroides.[2][3] The genus name combines the Ancient Greekhupsi meaning "high" with petēs meaning "-flyer".[4]
Nicobar bulbul (as Hypsipetes nicobariensis, Hypsipetes virescens, or Ixocincla virescens)[13][14]
Mountain bulbul (as Hypsipetes mcclellandi or Hypsipetes mcclellandii)[15] was often included in Hypsipetes due to an error that was promoted in modern times by the Sibley taxonomy[16]
Sunda bulbul (as Hypsipetes virescens)[20] was often included in Hypsipetes due to an error that was promoted in modern times by the Sibley taxonomy[16]
^ abThree species formerly assigned to Thapsinillas were moved to Hypsipetes after molecular phylogenetic analysis found Hypsipetes affinis embedded in the Hypsipetes clade.[5][3]
^A species formerly placed in the monotypoc genus Cerasophila was moved to Hypsipetes after molecular phylogenetic analysis found embedded in the Hypsipetes clade.[5][3]
References
^Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1831). "Hypsipetes". Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London. 1 (4): 43.
^Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. pp. 491–492. ISBN978-0-9568611-2-2.
^ abcdGill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Bulbuls". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
^Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 200. ISBN978-1-4081-2501-4.
Gregory, Steven M. (2000): Nomenclature of the Hypsipetes Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae). Forktail16: 164–166. PDF fulltext
Moyle, Robert G. & Marks, Ben D. (2006): Phylogenetic relationships of the bulbuls (Aves: Pycnonotidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.40(3): 687–695. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.04.015 (HTML abstract)
Pasquet, Éric; Han, Lian-Xian; Khobkhet, Obhas & Cibois, Alice (2001): Towards a molecular systematics of the genus Criniger, and a preliminary phylogeny of the bulbuls (Aves, Passeriformes, Pycnonotidae). Zoosystema23(4): 857–863. PDF fulltext
