The Malagasy bulbul (''Hypsipetes madagascariensis'') is a species of

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 ...

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, Pycnonotidae. It is found on

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and other regional islands in the south-western Indian Ocean.

Taxonomy and systematics

The Malagasy bulbul was originally described in the genus

Turdus True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus ''Turdus'' of the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Turdus'' is Latin for "thrush". The term " thrush" is used for many other birds of the family T ...

. Alternative names for the Malagasy bulbul include the black bulbul, Madagascar black bulbul, and Madagascar bulbul. The alternate name 'black bulbul' should not be confused with the species of the same name, '' Hypsipetes leucocephalus'', with which it was formerly considered as

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

Subspecies

Three subspecies are currently recognized: * ''H. m. madagascariensis'' - ( Statius Müller, 1776): Found on Madagascar and the

Comoro Islands The Comoro Islands or Comoros ( Shikomori ''Komori''; ar, جزر القمر , ''Juzur al-qamar''; french: Les Comores) form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northw ...

* ''H. m. grotei'' - (

Friedmann Friedman, Friedmann, and Freedman are surnames of German origin, and from the 17th century were also adopted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is the 9th most common surname in Israel (8th among Jews) and most common exclusively Ashkenazi name. They may refer ...

, 1929): Found on the

Glorioso Islands The Glorieuses or Glorioso Islands (french: Îles Glorieuses or officially also ) are a group of French islands and rocks totaling . They are controlled by France as part of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean in the French Southern and ...

* ''H. m. rostratus'' - ( Ridgway, 1893): Found on

Aldabra Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 k ...

atoll

Gallery

Image:Madagasy bulbul hypsipetes madagascariensis.jpg, ''Hypsipetes madagascariensis'' in the

Anjajavy Forest The Anjajavy's Protected Area is located on a peninsula of the town of Antonibe, in the district of Analalava and in the north-west region of Madagascar. It is part of the Sofia region of the independent province of Mahajanga and its position is be ...

Image:Hypsipetes madagascariensis MHNT 228 Sambrano Madagascar.jpg, Egg of ''Hypsipetes madagascariensis '' MHNT

References

Malagasy bulbul The Malagasy bulbul (''Hypsipetes madagascariensis'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found on Madagascar and other regional islands in the south-western Indian Ocean. Taxonomy and systematics The Malagasy b ...

Birds of the Comoros Birds of Madagascar Birds of Mayotte Birds of Seychelles

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pycnonotidae-stub