Ixos is a genus of passerine birds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Ixos was introduced in 1825 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck to accommodate the Javan bulbul. The genus name is the Ancient Greek for "mistletoe". Some authorities have advocated a complete merger of the genus Ixos with Hypsipetes – and even the entire "Hypsipetes group" of bulbuls, which also includes Hemixos, Iole and Tricholestes. Being the oldest genus name, Ixos would apply to all of them, rather than Hypsipetes as is often believed. This re-classification seems hardly appropriate however, since Alophoixus and Setornis cannot be excluded from the "Hypsipetes group", and an all-out merge would turn the resultant "genus" Ixos into an ill-defined "wastebin taxon". The erroneous inclusion of I. virescens in Hypsipetes has caused the Nicobar bulbul to be listed under its invalid junior synonym H. nicobariensis rather than the valid names H. virescens or I. nicobariensis.

Extant species

There are five extant species in the genus Ixos:

Former species

Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Ixos:

Footnotes