Turdoides

Turdoides is a genus of passerine birds in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae. The species are distributed across Africa and southern Asia and are typically fairly large, long-tailed birds which forage in noisy groups. The majority of species have drab brown or grey-brown plumage. Several species that were included in Turdoides in the past have been reassigned to Argya following a 2018 study that found multiple clades.

The genus Turdoides was introduced in 1826 by the German physician Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar specifically for the white-headed babbler. The name combines the thrush genus Turdus with the Ancient Greek -oidēs meaning "resembling".

Species

The genus contains the following 19 species:

• Brown babbler, Turdoides plebejus
• Bare-cheeked babbler, Turdoides gymnogenys
• Arrow-marked babbler, Turdoides jardineii
• Scaly babbler, Turdoides squamulata
• White-rumped babbler, Turdoides leucopygia
• White-headed babbler, Turdoides leucocephala
• Blackcap babbler, Turdoides reinwardtii
• Dusky babbler, Turdoides tenebrosa
• Southern pied babbler, Turdoides bicolor
• Northern pied babbler, Turdoides hypoleuca
• Black-lored babbler, Turdoides sharpei
• Black-faced babbler, Turdoides melanops
• Hartlaub's babbler, Turdoides hartlaubii
• Hinde's babbler, Turdoides hindei
• Spiny babbler, Turdoides nipalensis
• White-throated mountain babbler, Turdoides gilberti – previously in Kupeornis
• Red-collared babbler, Turdoides rufocinctus – previously in Kupeornis
• Chapin's babbler, Turdoides chapini – previously in Kupeornis
• Capuchin babbler, Turdoides atripennis – previously in monotypic Phyllanthus

References

• Collar, N. J. & Robson C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) pp. 70 – 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.