The western bearded greenbul (''Criniger barbatus'') 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 in West 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 forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Taxonomy

The western bearded greenbul was formally described and illustrated in 1821 by the Dutch zoologist

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dut ...

from a specimen collected in Sierra Leone. He coined 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 ...

''Trichophorus barbatus''. The 5 volumes were originally issued in 102 ''livraison'' (parts), 1820-1839. For the dates see: Formerly, some authorities considered the

eastern bearded greenbul The eastern bearded greenbul (''Criniger chloronotus'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found from south-eastern Nigeria to Central African Republic, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo and ex ...

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 ...

with the western bearded greenbul.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized: * ''C. b. barbatus'' (

Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch aristocrat, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob Temmin ...

, 1821) – Found from Sierra Leone to Benin * ''C. b. ansorgeanus'' Hartert, E, 1907 – Found in southern Nigeria

References

Criniger Birds of West Africa Western bearded greenbul Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pycnonotidae-stub