Talk:Pycnonotus

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A paraphyly?[edit]

The lead says:

Pycnonotus is a paraphyletic genus of songbird in the bulbul family (Pycnonotidae).

According to the definition of a paraphyly, it's a phylum that includes its last common ancestral clade, but which excludes one or more clades descended from that common ancestor. As, for example, tetrapods are not fishes; so "fish" is a paraphyly.

In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and all descendants of that ancestor excluding a few—typically only one or two—monophyletic subgroups.

If the statement in the lead para is true, then Pycnonotus must exclude at least one clade. But which one? The article doesn't say. Nor does it give a reference that helps the reader answer that question. Lacking that information, one must doubt whether the genus Pycnonotus is a paraphyly. yoyo (talk) 06:30, 22 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]