| Lybius | |
|---|---|
 | |
| black-billed barbet (L. guifsobalito) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Piciformes |
| Family: | Lybiidae |
| Genus: | Lybius Hermann, 1783 |
| Type species | |
| Lybius guifsobalito Hermann, 1783 | |
| Species | |
12, see text | |
Lybius is a genus of African barbets from the family Lybiidae (formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae). This genus ranges across sub-Saharan Africa.
The Lybius species are usually about 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) long, plump-looking, with large heads, and their heavy bill is fringed with bristles. Almost all species in this genus are characterized by their red feathers on the head or around the eyes, but there is a great variety of morphology in this genus. There are barbets like the white-headed barbet that have no red on the head at all, and species like the double-toothed barbet with all red feathers on the ventral side of the body and head, but with only black on the dorsal side. [1] Pretty much all species in this genus have striking plumage, consisting of red, black, yellow or white colors. [2] These are also mainly solitary birds that eat fruit, insects and small vertebrates like lizards. [1]
The genus Lybius was introduced in 1783 by the French naturalist Johann Hermann to accommodate a single species, the black-billed barbet, which is therefore the type species. [3] [4] The genus name is from Ancient Greek libuos, an unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle. [5]
The genus Lybius belongs to the order Piciformes, which contains 9 families, including the woodpecker family. [1] A couple of decades ago, all barbets were thought to be of one family, but studies of mitochondrial DNA and DNA hybridization in the early 1990s have led to barbets being split into three families: Asian barbets (Megalaimidae), African barbets (Lybiidae), and American barbets (Capitonidae). [6] The family Lybiidae has a total of 43 species that occur throughout the continent of Africa from the tip of the Cape Peninsula to the fringes of the Sahara desert. Out of the 43 species in this family, Lybius contains 7 barbet species. The gneus Pogonornis, contains 5 barbet species, was previously included in the genus Lybius . [7] These are the most frequently encountered group of African barbets. [8]
The genus contains 12 species: [7]
| Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Banded barbet | Lybius undatus | Eritrea and Ethiopia. |
 | Vieillot's barbet | Lybius vieilloti | Senegal to Ethiopia |
 | White-headed barbet | Lybius leucocephalus | Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. |
 | Chaplin's barbet or Zambian barbet | Lybius chaplini | South Central Zambia |
 | Red-faced barbet | Lybius rubrifacies | Burundi, Rwanda, Northwest Tanzania, and Southwest Uganda |
 | Black-billed barbet | Lybius guifsobalito | Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. |
 | Black-collared barbet | Lybius torquatus | Sub-Saharan Africa through Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. |
Most of the Lybius species use duetting as a way to mark one's territory and to find a mate. Mates must have coordinating duets in order to be a proper match for each other, which means lone singers are very uncommon in the duetting barbet species. Duet songs are species-specific, and only paired duetting barbets can hold a territory, which is why lone singers are rarely seen. There are four known duetting species in this genus: Lybius vieilloti, L. leucocephalus, L. rubrifacies, and L. torquatus. The duetting of L. chaplini and L. undatus is unknown. [9] The behavioral significance of duetting probably involves sex recognition and the maintenance of a pair bond. [10]
Generally, the barbets in the duet will bow ceremoniously to each other while singing. In addition to bowing, certain African barbet species, like Lybius vieilloti and Lybius torquatus , will incorporate a snarl into their duet. The snarl might actually be how the duets are initiated in this species. When duetting, each bird will pick up the song from where the other bird left off. The time interval between when one bird ends the duet and when the other bird begins the song again is called the "auditory response time". Basically, the auditory response time is the minimum time required for the barbet to hear the notes and respond to them. [10]
Nine families of largely arboreal birds make up the order Piciformes, the best-known of them being the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The Piciformes contain about 71 living genera with a little over 450 species, of which the Picidae make up about half.
New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans.
The bearded barbet is an African barbet. Barbets are birds with a worldwide tropical distribution, although New World and Old World barbets are placed in different families. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills.
Vieillot's barbet is a small bird in the family Lybiidae. Barbets and toucans are a group of near passerine birds with a world-wide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. This bird is named after the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.
The prong-billed barbet is a distinctive, relatively large-billed bird native to humid highland forest of Costa Rica and western Panama.
Megalaimidae, the Asian barbets, are a family of birds, comprising two genera with 34 species native to the forests of the Indomalayan realm from Tibet to Indonesia. They were once clubbed with all barbets in the family Capitonidae but the Old World species have been found to be distinctive and are considered, along with the Lybiidae and Ramphastidae, as sister groups. In the past the species were placed in three genera, Caloramphus, Megalaima and Psilopogon, but studies show that Psilopogon to be nested within the clade of Megalaima. Since members of this clade are better treated under a single genus, they have been moved to the genus Psilopogon which was described and erected earlier than Megalaima and is therefore chosen on the basis of taxonomic priority principles. Nearly all members of the family are now in the genus Psilopogon, with the exception of those in Caloramphus, which are thought to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor around 21.32 million years ago. The latter species are distinct enough to warrant placement in a subfamily Caloramphinae. The family name is derived from that of the genus Megalaima which means ‘large throat’, from the Greek mega and laimos.
Lybiidae is a family of birds also known as the African barbets. There are 42 species ranging from the type genus Lybius of forest interior to the tinkerbirds (Pogoniulus) of forest and scrubland. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of the far south-west of South Africa.
Gymnobucco is a bird genus in the African barbet family (Lybiidae), which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae (toucans).
The double-toothed barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Within Lybius bidentatus, there are two subspecies: Lybius bidentatus bidentatus and Lybius bidentatus aequatorialis.
Chaplin's barbet or the Zambian barbet, is a bird species in the family Lybiidae, which was until recently united with the other barbets in the Capitonidae. This bird was named in honor of Sir Francis Drummond Percy Chaplin, a former colonial governor. The species was renamed to emphasize its status as Zambia's only true endemic bird species. It is endemic to South Central Zambia and is restricted to the area between the Upper Kafue River to Kabanga in the Kalomo District. Its natural habitats are moist savanna and arable land. It is threatened by habitat loss. It was formerly classified as a Near Threatened species by the IUCN. But new research has shown it to be rarer than it was believed. Consequently, it is uplisted to Vulnerable status in 2008.
The black-billed barbet is a species of bird in the Lybiidae family.
The white-headed barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The red-faced barbet is a species of bird in the African barbet family Lybiidae. It is found in Burundi, Rwanda, Northwest Tanzania, and Southwest Uganda. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, and arable land. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The black-collared barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae which is native to sub-Saharan Africa. Indigenous names include Rooikophoutkapper in Afrikaans, isiKhulukhulu and isiQonQotho in Zulu, and Isinagogo in Xhosa.
The banded barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Stactolaema is a bird genus in the African barbet family (Lybiidae) which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. It contains the following species:
The African terrestrial barbets are the bird genus Trachyphonus in the African barbet family (Lybiidae), which was formerly included in the Capitonidae and sometimes in the Ramphastidae. These birds are more terrestrial than the other African barbets and differ in some other respects too; they are thus separated in a monotypic subfamily Trachyphoninae.
Tricholaema is a bird genus in the African barbet family Lybiidae. It was formerly included with the New World barbets in the family Capitonidae and sometimes also in the Ramphastidae.
The miombo pied barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in south-central Africa.
Pogonornis is a genus of African barbets from the family Lybiidae. This genus ranges across sub-Saharan Africa.
