Argya
Genus of birds in the family Leiothrichidae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Argya 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 that forage in noisy groups. Members of this genus were formerly placed in the genera Turdoides and Garrulax.
| Argya | |
|---|---|
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| Jungle babbler (Argya striata) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Leiothrichidae |
| Genus: | Argya Lesson, RP, 1831 |
| Type species | |
| Malurus squamiceps[1] Cretzschmar, 1827 | |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
Taxonomy
Most of the species now placed in the genus Argya were previously assigned to the genus Turdoides. Following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2018, Turdoides was split and species were moved to the resurrected genus Argya that had been erected by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831.[2][3][4] The name is from the Latin argutus meaning "noisy".[5] Lesson did not specify a type species but this was designated as the Arabian babbler (Argya squamiceps) by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855.[6][7]
The following cladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships between the species is based on a study by Alice Cibois and collaborators that was published in 2018. The Iraq babbler (Argya altirostris) and the orange-billed babbler (Argya rufescens) were not included in the study.[2] The Afghan babbler (Argya huttoni) has been split from the common babbler.[3]
| Argya |
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Species
The genus contains 16 species:[3][8]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
_Photograph_by_Shantanu_Kuveskar.jpg) | Large grey babbler | Argya malcolmi | India |
.jpg) | Ashy-headed laughingthrush | Argya cinereifrons | Sri Lanka |
 | Arabian babbler | Argya squamiceps | United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen and western Saudi Arabia |
 | Fulvous babbler | Argya fulva | Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, and Tunisia. |
 | White-throated babbler | Argya gularis | Myanmar. |
 | Striated babbler | Argya earlei | Pakistan to Myanmar. |
.jpg) | Iraq babbler | Argya altirostris | Iraq and south-western Iran |
_in_Hodal,_Haryana_W_IMG_6317.jpg) | Common babbler | Argya caudata | India. |
 | Afghan babbler | Argya huttoni | southeastern Iraq to south western Pakistan. |
.jpg) | Rufous chatterer | Argya rubiginosa | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. |
 | Scaly chatterer | Argya aylmeri | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania. |
_by_Dharani_Prakash.jpg) | Yellow-billed babbler | Argya affinis | southern India and Sri Lanka. |
_in_Kawal,_AP_W_IMG_1953.jpg) | Jungle babbler | Argya striata | India |
.jpg) | Orange-billed babbler | Argya rufescens | Sri Lanka. |
 | Slender-billed babbler | Argya longirostris | Bangladesh, Nepal, Northeast India and possibly Myanmar |
 | Rufous babbler | Argya subrufa | India |