Melanocichla


Melanocichla is a genus of birds in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae.

Taxonomy

The genus Melanocichla was introduced in 1883 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe to accommodate a single species, the black laughingthrush, which is therefore the type species of the genus. The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with kikhlkikhlē meaning "thrush".
A 2019 molecular phylogenetic study found that the genus Melanocichla was sister to the genus Pomatorhinus containing the scimitar babblers.

Species

The genus contains the following species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Black laughingthrushMelanocichla lugubrisextreme south Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra
Bare-headed laughingthrushMelanocichla calvaBorneo