The hairy-backed bulbul (''Tricholestes criniger'') is a

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical As ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, Pycnonotidae. It is the sole species contained within the monotypic

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Tricholestes''. It is found on the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The hairy-backed bulbul was originally described in the genus ''

Brachypodius The genus ''Brachypodius'' is a small genus of songbirds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Brachypodius'' was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth to accommodate the black-headed bulbul. The word ''Bra ...

'' (a synonym for ''Pycnonotus''). Alternatively, some authorities have classified the hairy-backed bulbul in the genera ''

Trichophorus ''Criniger'' is a genus of songbirds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. The species of ''Criniger'' are found in western and central Africa. Taxonomy The genus ''Criniger'' was introduced in 1820 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck, ...

'' (a synonym for ''Criniger'') and ''

Hypsipetes __NOTOC__ ''Hypsipetes'' is a genus of bulbuls, songbirds in the family Pycnonotidae. Most of its species occur in tropical forests around the Indian Ocean. But while the genus is quite diverse in the Madagascar region at the western end of its ...

''.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are currently recognized: * ''T. c. criniger'' - ( Blyth, 1845): Found on the Malay Peninsula and eastern Sumatra * ''T. c. sericeus'' - (Blyth, 1865): Originally described as a separate species in the genus ''Criniger''. Found on western Sumatra * ''T. c. viridis'' - ( Bonaparte, 1854): Originally described as a separate species in the genus ''Trichophoropsis'' (a synonym for '' Setornis''). Found on Borneo

References

hairy-backed bulbul hairy-backed bulbul Birds of Malesia hairy-backed bulbul hairy-backed bulbul Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pycnonotidae-stub