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:
ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
 Turdoides nipalensisSpiny babblerNepal
- Turdoides atripennisCapuchin babblerAfrican tropical rainforest
- Turdoides gilbertiWhite-throated mountain babblerCameroonian Highlands forests
- Turdoides chapiniChapin's babblerwestern foothills of Albertine Rift montane forests
- Turdoides rufocinctusRed-collared babblerAlbertine Rift montane forests
 Turdoides plebejusBrown babblernorthern sub-Saharan Africa
- Turdoides leucopygiaWhite-rumped babblerHorn of Africa
 Turdoides hindeiHinde's babblerKenya
 Turdoides squamulataScaly babblerriverine and coastal Horn of Africa :

Tana, Jubba and Shebelle rivers
 Turdoides jardineiiArrow-marked babblercentral/southern sub-Saharan Africa
 Turdoides gymnogenysBare-cheeked babblerwestern Angola and northern Namibia
- Turdoides leucocephalaWhite-headed babblereastern Sudan, western Ethiopia and Eritrea
 Turdoides reinwardtiiBlackcap babblerWest Africa to southern CAF
- Turdoides tenbrosaDusky babblerwestern, eastern and southern South Sudan
and adjacent areas
 Turdoides bicolorSouthern pied babblerKalahari Basin
- Turdoides hartlaubiiHartlaub's babblercentral-southern sub-Saharan Africa
 Turdoides sharpeiBlack-lored babblerLake Victoria basin
 Turdoides melanopsBlack-faced babblersouthern Angola, northern Namibia and Botswana
 Turdoides hypoleucaNorthern pied babblerKenya and Tanzania