see text Laniarius is a genus of brightly coloured, carnivorous passerine birds commonly known as boubous or gonoleks.
Not to be confused with the similar-sounding genus Lanius, they were formerly classed with the true shrikes in the family Laniidae, but they and related genera are now considered sufficiently distinctive to be separated from that group as the bush-shrike family Malaconotidae.
They are similar in habits to shrikes, hunting insects and other small prey from a perch on a bush.
Although similar in build to the shrikes, these tend to be either colourful species or largely black.
Previously, members of the genus Laniarius had been classified on the basis of plumage.