| 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
[edit]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 | |
.jpg) |
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 |
.jpg) |
Blue-wattled bulbul | Microtarsus nieuwenhuisii | Sumatra and Borneo |
References
[edit]- ^ 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.