The slender-billed greenbul (''Stelgidillas gracilirostris'') is a species in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus ''Stelgidillas'' of 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 of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s. It is found in western and central Africa. 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 ...

s are

subtropical or tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

, and subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The slender-billed greenbul was formally described in 1844 by the English naturalist Hugh Edwin Strickland under the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Andropadus gracilirostris'' from a specimen collected on the island of Fernando Pó (now Bioko) off the west coast of Africa. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of the bulbuls published in 2007 found that '' Andropadus'' was non-monophyletic. In the subsequent rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the slender-billed greenbul was moved to the genus ''Stelgidillas'' that had been introduced by

Harry C. Oberholser Harry Church Oberholser (June 25, 1870 – December 25, 1963) was an American ornithologist. Biography Harry Oberholser was born to Jacob and Lavera S. Oberholser on June 25, 1870, in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Columbia University, but did ...

in 1899. Alternate names for the slender-billed greenbul include the Cameroon sombre greenbul and Cameroon greenbul. The latter name should not be confused with the species of the same name, ''

Arizelocichla montana The Cameroon greenbul (''Arizelocichla montana'') is a species of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found in the Cameroonian Highlands forests. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss. Taxonomy and systematics The Cameroon greenbul ...

''.

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus ''Stelgidillas'': *

Toro olive greenbul The Toro olive greenbul (''Phyllastrephus hypochloris'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in southern South Sudan and from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda to western Kenya and northe ...

(as ''Stelgidillas hypochloris'')

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the slender-billed greenbul are recognized: * Congo slender-billed greenbul (''S. g. gracilirostris'') - Strickland, 1844 — from Senegal and Guinea-Bissau to southern Sudan, western Kenya, western Tanzania, south-central Democratic Republic Congo and north-western Angola * Kikuyu slender-billed greenbul (''S. g. percivali'') - (

Neumann Neumann is German language, German and Yiddish language, Yiddish for "new man", and one of the List of the most common surnames in Europe#Germany, 20 most common German surnames. People * Von Neumann family, a Jewish Hungarian noble family A� ...

, 1903) — central Kenya

References

slender-billed greenbul The slender-billed greenbul (''Stelgidillas gracilirostris'') is a species in the monotypic genus ''Stelgidillas'' of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found in western and central Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or trop ...

Birds of the Gulf of Guinea Birds of the African tropical rainforest

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pycnonotidae-stub