The ioras are a small family, Aegithinidae, of four passerine bird species found in south and southeast Asia. The family is composed of a single genus, Aegithina. They were formerly grouped with the leafbirds and fairy-bluebirds, in the family Irenidae.
Taxonomy and systematics
The genus Aegithina was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate the common iora. The genus name is from Ancient Greek aigithos or aiginthos, a mythical bird mentioned by Aristotle and other classical authors.
The common iora was described in 1758 and given the binomial name Motacilla tiphia by Carl Linnaeus, but there was a some confusion about the nature of bird Linnaeus was referring to. Early taxonomists considered it to variously be a warbler, flycatcher, finch or babbler. When G. R. Gray erected the family Aegithinidae in 1869 he included a number of babbler genera in it with the ioras. Edward Blyth, working in the 1850s, was the first to connect the ioras with the leafbirds and fairy-bluebirds, and included all these with the bulbuls.
Species of Aegithinidae
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! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution
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|120px || Common iora ||Aegithina tiphia|| Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia
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|120px ||Marshall's iora || Aegithina nigrolutea|| India and Sri Lanka.
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|120px ||Green iora ||Aegithina viridissima|| Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo
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|120px ||Great iora ||Aegithina lafresnayei|| Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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Description
The ioras are small to medium small sized passerines, ranging from in length. Overall the males are larger than the females. These are reminiscent of the bulbuls, but whereas that group tends to be drab in colouration, the ioras are more brightly coloured. The group exhibits sexual dimorphism in its plumage, with the males being brightly plumaged in yellows and greens. Unlike the leafbirds, ioras have thin legs, and their bills are proportionately longer. Calls are strident whistles; songs are musical to human ears.
Habitat and distribution
thumb|There is some evidence that Marshall's ioras may be migratory in some of their range
Their habitats include acacia scrub, forest edge, and closed forests, as well as agricultural land and (in the common iora) gardens.