Lanius was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The type species was designated as the great grey shrike by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1824. The genus name is a Latin word meaning "butcher". The genus contains the following 30 species: Former species Formerly, some authorities also considered the following species (or subspecies) as species within the genus Lanius: Southern grey shrike (as Lanius meridionalis) Crested shriketit (as Lanius frontatus) Rufous whistler (as Lanius macularius) Northern variable pitohui (as Lanius kirhocephalus) Red-whiskered bulbul (as Lanius jocosus) Grey-cheeked bulbul (as Lanius Bres) References Bird genera Shrikes