Leiothrix (bird)

Leiothrix
	Silver-eared mesia; Leiothrix argentauris
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Leiothrichidae
Genus:	Leiothrix; Swainson, 1832
Type species
	Parus furcatus = Sylvia luteo; Temminck, 1824
Species
	Leiothrix argentauris; Leiothrix lutea;

Leiothrix is a genus of passerine birds in the family Leiothrichidae. They belong to a clade also containing at least the liocichlas, barwings, minlas and sibias. The sibias are possibly their closest living relatives.

Taxonomy

The genus Leiothrix was introduced in 1832 by the English naturalist William John Swainson with the red-billed leiothrix as the type species.^[2]^[3] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek leios meaning "smooth" and thrix meaning "hair".^[4]

The genus contains two species:^[5]

Genus **Leiothrix** – Swainson, 1832 – two species
Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Silver-eared mesia	Leiothrix argentauris (Hodgson, 1837) Seven subspecies M argentauris argentauris (Hodgson, 1837) M argentauris galbana (Mayr & Greenway, 1938) M argentauris ricketti (La Touche, 1923) M argentauris cunhaci (Robinson & Kloss, 1919) M argentauris tahanensis (Yen Kwokyung, 1934) M argentauris rookmakeri (Junge, 1948) M argentauris laurinae (Salvadori, 1879)	South East Asia.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Red-billed leiothrix or "Pekin nightingale"	Leiothrix lutea (Scopoli, 1786) Five subspecies L. l. kumaiensis Whistler, 1943 L. l. calipyga (Hodgson, 1837) L. l. yunnanensis Rothschild, 1921 L. l. kwangtungensis Stresemann, 1923 L. l. lutea (Scopoli, 1786)	India, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma and parts of Tibet.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

Their delicate colors and accomplished song make them popular cagebirds.

^ "Leiothrichidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
^ Swainson, William John; Richardson, J. (1831). Fauna Boreali-Americana, or, The Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America. Vol. 2: The Birds. London: J. Murray. pp. 233, 490. The title page bears the year 1831 but the volume was not published until 1832.
^ Mayr, Ernst; Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, eds. (1964). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 381.
^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Laughingthrushes and allies". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 June 2022.

Cibois, Alice (2003): Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeny of Babblers (Timaliidae). Auk 120(1): 1-20. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2003)120[0035:MDPOBT]2.0.CO;2 HTML fulltext without images
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.