Rubigula

Rubigula
Black-crested bulbul (Rubigula flaviventris)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pycnonotidae
Genus:	Rubigula Blyth, 1845
Type species
Turdus dispar (ruby-throated bulbul) Horsfield, 1821
Synonyms
Ixodia Blyth, 1845

Rubigula is a genus of Asian passerine birds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae.

Taxonomy

The genus Rubigula was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth. ^[1] The type species was designated as the ruby-throated bulbul by George Robert Gray in 1855. ^{[2] [3]} The name combines the Medieval Latin rubinus meaning "ruby" with Latin gula meaning "throat". ^[4]

This genus was formerly synonymized with the genus Pycnonotus . A molecular phylogenetic study of the bulbul family published in 2017 found that Pycnonotus was polyphyletic. ^[5] In the revision to the generic classification five species were moved from Pycnonotus to Rubigula. ^[6] In 2025 AviList merged the genus Ixodia into a more broadly defined Rubigula. ^[7]

Species

The genus contains eight species: ^[7]

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Spectacled bulbul	Rubigula erythropthalmos	Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and satellites, and Borneo
	Grey-bellied bulbul	Rubigula cyaniventris	Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo
	Scaly-breasted bulbul	Rubigula squamata	Malay Peninsula to Borneo
	Black-crested bulbul	Rubigula flaviventris	north, northeast India to Southeast Asia
	Flame-throated bulbul	Rubigula gularis	hills of southwestern India (western Mysore to Kerala and Tamil Nadu)
	Black-capped bulbul	Rubigula melanictera	Sri Lanka
	Ruby-throated bulbul	Rubigula dispar	Sumatra, Java, and Bali
	Bornean bulbul	Rubigula montis	highlands of northern Borneo

References

1. Blyth, Edward (1845). "Notices and descriptions of various new or little known species of birds (continued)". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 14, Part 2 (164): 546–602 [576].
2. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 47.
3. 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.
4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 339. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
5. 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 .
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Bulbuls". IOC World Bird List Version 11.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
7. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi: 10.2173/avilist.v2025 . Retrieved 17 November 2025.