Shelley's greenbul (''Arizelocichla masukuensis'') or Shelley's bulbul, is a species 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, tropic ...

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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s. It is found in east-central Africa. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s 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 lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Shelley's greenbul was originally described in the genus ''

Andropadus The sombre greenbul (''Andropadus importunus'') is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is a resident breeder in coastal bush, evergreen forest and dry shrub land in eastern and southern Africa. It is the only member of the genus ...

'' and re-classified in the new genus ''Arizelocichla'' in 2010. Alternatively, some authorities classify Shelley's greenbul in the genus ''

Pycnonotus ''Pycnonotus'' is a genus of frugivorous passerine birds in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Pycnonotus'' was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the Cape bulbul as the type specie ...

''. Also, some authorities consider the

Kakamega greenbul Kakamega greenbul (''Arizelocichla kakamegae''), is a species of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is native to the Lake Victoria region. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist montan ...

to be a subspecies of Shelley's greenbul. The common name, 'Shelley's greenbul', is also used as an alternate name for the

placid greenbul Cabanis's greenbul (''Phyllastrephus cabanisi''), also known as Cabanis's bulbul, is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found in east-central and south-central Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical ...

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized: * Wilhelmstal mountain greenbul (''A. m. roehli'') - ( Reichenow, 1905): Also named the Masuku mountain greenbul. Found in north-eastern, central and southern Tanzania * Nandi mountain greenbul (''A. m. masukuensis'') - ( Shelley, 1897): Found in south-western Tanzania and northern Malawi

References

External links

Image at ADW
Shelley's greenbul Eastern Afromontane endemic bird species Shelley's greenbul Shelley's greenbul Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Pycnonotidae-stub