Phyllastrephus

Phyllastrephus is a songbird genus in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. Most of the species in the genus are typical greenbuls, though two are brownbuls, and one is a leaflove.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Phyllastrephus was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1832 with Le Jaboteur (Levaillant), now the terrestrial brownbul, as the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek phullon meaning "leaf" with strephō meaning "to toss" or "to turn".

Species

The genus contains the following 20 species:

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
File:Tiny Greenbul iNaturalist.jpg	Lowland tiny greenbul	Phyllastrephus debilis	East Africa
-	Montane tiny greenbul	Phyllastrephus albigula	Usambara and Nguru Mountains
File:Phyllastrephus albigularis 248368236.jpg	White-throated greenbul	Phyllastrephus albigularis	African tropical rainforest
-	Angola greenbul	Phyllastrephus viridiceps	northwestern Angola
-	Xavier's greenbul	Phyllastrephus xavieri	Congolian rainforests
File:Icterine Greenbul imported from iNaturalist photo 225196965 on 4 September 2024 (cropped).jpg	Icterine greenbul	Phyllastrephus icterinus	African tropical rainforest
File:Terrestrial Brownbul - Malawi S4E3407 (17026025436).jpg	Terrestrial brownbul	Phyllastrephus terrestris	miombo, fynbos and east Africa
-	Cameroon olive greenbul	Phyllastrephus poensis	Western High Plateau
File:Northern Brownbul - Meru - Kenya 06 8252 (16429554424).jpg	Northern brownbul	Phyllastrephus strepitans	northern East Africa
-	Grey-olive greenbul	Phyllastrephus cerviniventris	miombo and East Africa
-	Fischer's greenbul	Phyllastrephus fischeri	southern Somalia to northern Mozambique
File:Cabani's Greenbul - Kakamega Kenya 06 1567 (16865831369).jpg	Cabanis's greenbul	Phyllastrephus cabanisi	miombo and East Africa
-	Red-tailed leaflove	Phyllastrephus scandens	African tropical rainforest
-	Sassi's olive greenbul	Phyllastrephus lorenzi	Congo Basin (north-east)
File:Yellow-streaked Greenbul (or Yellow-streaked Bulbul), Phyllastrephus flavostriatus at Agatha Plantation, Tzaneen, South Africa (14514831440).jpg	Yellow-streaked greenbul	Phyllastrephus flavostriatus	Afromontane
-	Sharpe's greenbul	Phyllastrephus alfredi	south-western Tanzania, north-eastern Zambia and northern Malawi
-	Grey-headed greenbul	Phyllastrephus poliocephalus	Western High Plateau
-	Toro olive greenbul	Phyllastrephus hypochloris	East African montane forests and northern Victoria Basin
-	Baumann's greenbul	Phyllastrephus baumanni	sparsely present across southern West Africa
File:Pale-olive Greenbul 110ND500 DSC7883.jpg	Pale-olive greenbul	Phyllastrephus fulviventris	gallery forests of southwestern Central Africa

Former species

Several species from Madagascar that were formerly placed in the genus Phyllastrephus have now been moved into Bernieria and Xanthomixis. Commonly called the Bernieria and the tetrakas, these species are not bulbuls but Malagasy warblers similar to greenbuls due to convergent evolution. Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Phyllastrephus:

• Honeyguide greenbul (as Phyllastrephus indicator)
• Simple greenbul (as Pyrrhurus simplex)
• Swamp palm bulbul (as Phyllastrephus leucopleurus)