mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase subunits 2 and 3 and nDNA β-fibrinogen intron 7 sequence data puts it closer to (but still well distant from) the Streaked Bulbul (Ixos malaccensis).
Depending on whether it is or isn't a particularly close relative of the type species of the genus Ixos, the Sunda Bulbul or Green-winged Bulbul (Ixos virescens), it might belong in a new genus.
Either way, the specific epithet virescens, given to the present species by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1825, pre-dates the same name as given to the Nicobar Bulbul by Edward Blyth in 1845, and thus the latter species is sometimes referred to as H. nicobarensis (though correctly it would be Ixos nicobariensis).