Little greenbul

Little greenbul
Andropadus virens at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pycnonotidae
Genus: Eurillas
Species: E. virens
Binomial name
Eurillas virens
Cassin, 1858
Synonyms

Andropadus virens

The little greenbul (Eurillas virens) is a species of songbird in the Pycnonotidae family.

Subspecies

"Hall's greenbul", Eurillas (virens) hallae, may be a melanistic form of this species. It is known only from a single specimen taken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is named after the British ornithologist Mrs. Beryl Patricia Hall.[1][2]

Distribution

It is found in Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.

Habitat

Eurillas virens photographed in Gambia

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and moist savanna.

Description

Eurillas virens is a small bird reaching a total length of about 187 mm, with wings of about 80 mm and tail of about 77 mm. The upper tail and wings are brown, while breast and flanks are pale greyish-greenish (hence the Latin name virens of this species, meaning «green»). The bill is brown, the iris is brown and the feet are light yellow-brown.

The little greenbul was the subject of a study, conducted by Thomas B. Smith, Robert K. Wayne, Derek J. Girman, and Michael W. Bruford (published in Science in June 1997) regarding the impact of ecotones on biodiversity.[3]

References

  1. Internet Bird Collection. "Little Greenbul (Andropadus virens)". Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  2. Jobling, James A. (2010). Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 185.
  3. Sciencemag


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