Iole (bird)

Iole is a genus of songbirds in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. They are native to tropical eastern Asia, from India to China and south through Southeast Asia to northern Indonesia.

Iole
Buff-vented bulbul (Iole crypta)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Pycnonotidae
Genus:	Iole Blyth, 1844
Type species
Iole olivacea[1] Blyth, 1844

Taxonomy and systematics

While some older sources merge this genus into Hypsipetes, this is neither advisable nor technically correct. The two genera stand well apart, and to phylogenetically justify their merging, the entire "Hypsipetes group" of bulbuls would need to be united in a single genus. That would include Hemixos, Ixos, Microscelis and Tricholestes, and probably also Alophoixus and the monotypic Setornis. The hook-billed bulbul may in fact be the closest living relative to the species in Iole, but altogether the present genus may well be a quite basal lineage of the traditional "Hypsipetes group" of bulbuls, with no particularly close relatives among any of these other genera.^[2]

According to mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase subunits 2 and 3 and nDNA β-fibrinogen intron 7 sequence data Alophoixus is only slightly more distant from Hypsipetes than Iole is, whereas mtDNA 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA sequence data places it actually closer to Hypsipetes than to Iole. As the genus name Ixos pre-dates Hypsipetes, it would thus apply to such a thoroughly merged "wastebin taxon".^[2]

Extant species

The following seven species are currently recognized:^[3]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
-	Finsch's bulbul	Iole finschii	Malesia
	Sulphur-bellied bulbul	Iole palawanensis	Palawan
-	Olive bulbul	Iole viridescens	Northeast India and western Indochina
	Buff-vented bulbul	Iole crypta	Thailand, Malay peninsula and Sumatra
	Charlotte's bulbul	Iole charlottae	Borneo
-	Cachar bulbul	Iole cacharensis	Northeast India and Bangladesh
	Grey-eyed bulbul	Iole propinqua	Indochina and adjacent southern China

Former species

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

• Yellow-browed bulbul (as Iole indica)^[4]
• Yellow-browed bulbul (icterica) (as Iole icterica)^[5]
• Cinereous bulbul (as Iole cinerea)^[6]
• Mindoro bulbul (as Iole Mindorensis)^[7]
• Visayan bulbul (as Iole Guimarasensis)^[8]
• Zamboanga bulbul (as Iole rufigularis)^[9]
• Streak-breasted bulbul (as Iole siquijorensis)^[10]
• Romblon bulbul (as Iole cinereiceps)^[11]
• Cebu bulbul (as Iole monticola)^[12]