| Turdoides | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Brown babbler (Turdoides plebejus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Leiothrichidae |
| Genus: | Turdoides Cretzschmar, 1826 |
| Type species | |
| Turdoides leucocephala (white-headed babbler) Cretzschmar, 1826 | |
| Species | |
See list | |
Turdoides is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae. The species are distributed across Africa and southern Asia and are typically fairly large, long-tailed birds which forage in noisy groups. The majority of species have drab brown or grey-brown plumage. Several species that were included in Turdoides in the past have been reassigned to Argya following a 2018 study that found multiple clades. [1]
The genus Turdoides was introduced in 1826 by the German physician Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar specifically for the white-headed babbler. [2] The name combines the thrush genus Turdus with the Ancient Greek -oidēs meaning "resembling". [3]
The genus contains the following 19 species: [4]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Turdoides nipalensis | Spiny babbler | Nepal |
| - | Turdoides atripennis | Capuchin babbler | African tropical rainforest |
| - | Turdoides gilberti | White-throated mountain babbler | Cameroonian Highlands forests |
| - | Turdoides chapini | Chapin's babbler | western foothills of Albertine Rift montane forests |
| - | Turdoides rufocinctus | Red-collared babbler | Albertine Rift montane forests |
| | Turdoides plebejus | Brown babbler | northern sub-Saharan Africa |
| - | Turdoides leucopygia | White-rumped babbler | Horn of Africa |
| | Turdoides hindei | Hinde's babbler | Kenya |
| | Turdoides squamulata | Scaly babbler | riverine and coastal Horn of Africa : |
| | Turdoides jardineii | Arrow-marked babbler | central/southern sub-Saharan Africa |
| | Turdoides gymnogenys | Bare-cheeked babbler | western Angola and northern Namibia |
| - | Turdoides leucocephala | White-headed babbler | eastern Sudan, western Ethiopia and Eritrea |
| | Turdoides reinwardtii | Blackcap babbler | West Africa to southern CAF |
| - | Turdoides tenbrosa | Dusky babbler | western, eastern and southern South Sudan and adjacent areas |
| | Turdoides bicolor | Southern pied babbler | Kalahari Basin |
| - | Turdoides hartlaubii | Hartlaub's babbler | central-southern sub-Saharan Africa |
| | Turdoides sharpei | Black-lored babbler | Lake Victoria basin |
| | Turdoides melanops | Black-faced babbler | southern Angola, northern Namibia and Botswana |
| | Turdoides hypoleuca | Northern pied babbler | Kenya and Tanzania |