Argya 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 that forage in noisy groups. Members of this genus were formerly placed in the genera Turdoides and Garrulax.

Argya
Jungle babbler (Argya striata)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Leiothrichidae
Genus: Argya
Lesson, RP, 1831
Type species
Malurus squamiceps[1]
Species

See text

Taxonomy

edit

Most of the species now placed in the genus Argya were previously assigned to the genus Turdoides. Following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2018, Turdoides was split and species were moved to the resurrected genus Argya that had been erected by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831.[2][3][4] The name is from the Latin argutus meaning "noisy".[5] Lesson did not specify a type species but this was designated as the Arabian babbler (Argya squamiceps) by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855.[6][7]

The following cladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships between the species is based on a study by Alice Cibois and collaborators that was published in 2018. The Iraq babbler (Argya altirostris) and the orange-billed babbler (Argya rufescens) were not included in the study.[2] The Afghan babbler (Argya huttoni) has been split from the common babbler.[3]

Argya

Large grey babblerArgya malcolmi

Ashy-headed laughingthrushArgya cinereifrons

Slender-billed babblerArgya longirostris

Rufous babblerArgya subrufa

Jungle babblerArgya striata

Yellow-billed babblerArgya affinis

Rufous chattererArgya rubiginosa

Scaly chattererArgya aylmeri

Common babblerArgya caudata

Fulvous babblerArgya fulva

Arabian babblerArgya squamiceps

Striated babblerArgya earlei

White-throated babblerArgya gularis

Species

edit

The genus contains 16 species:[3][8]

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
  Large grey babbler Argya malcolmi India
  Ashy-headed laughingthrush Argya cinereifrons Sri Lanka
  Arabian babbler Argya squamiceps United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen and western Saudi Arabia
  Fulvous babbler Argya fulva Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, and Tunisia.
  White-throated babbler Argya gularis Myanmar.
  Striated babbler Argya earlei Pakistan to Myanmar.
  Iraq babbler Argya altirostris Iraq and south-western Iran
  Common babbler Argya caudata India.
  Afghan babbler Argya huttoni southeastern Iraq to south western Pakistan.
  Rufous chatterer Argya rubiginosa Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
  Scaly chatterer Argya aylmeri Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania.
  Yellow-billed babbler Argya affinis southern India and Sri Lanka.
  Jungle babbler Argya striata India
  Orange-billed babbler Argya rufescens Sri Lanka.
  Slender-billed babbler Argya longirostris Bangladesh, Nepal, Northeast India and possibly Myanmar
  Rufous babbler Argya subrufa India

References

edit
  1. ^ "Leiothrichidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
  2. ^ a b Cibois, A.; Gelang, M.; Alström, P.; Pasquet, E.; Fjeldså, J.; Ericson, P.G.P.; Olsson, U. (2018). "Comprehensive phylogeny of the laughingthrushes and allies (Aves, Leiothrichidae) and a proposal for a revised taxonomy". Zoologica Scripta. 47 (4): 428–440. doi:10.1111/zsc.12296. S2CID 51883434.
  3. ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Laughingthrushes and allies". World Bird List Version 9.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  4. ^ Lesson, René (1831). Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique (in French). Paris: F.G. Levrault. p. 402.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 43, No. 723.
  7. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 331.
  8. ^ Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70 – 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.