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Carduelini

(Tribe)

Overview

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The true finches are birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to Southern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found only in the Palaearctic. The scientific name Fringillidae comes from the Latin word fringilla for the Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) – a member of that last subfamily – which is common in Europe.

Many birds in other families are also commonly called "finches", including some species in the very similar-looking waxbills (family Estrildidae) of the Old World tropics and Australia; several groups of the bunting and American sparrow family (Emberizidae); and Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands, which provided evidence of natural selection and are now recognized to be peculiar tanagers (Thraupidae).1]

Description

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Beak and tongue shapes of the Drepanidinae

The "classical" true finches range in size from the Andean Siskin (Carduelis spinescens) at 9.5 cm (3.8 in) and 8.4 g (0.3 oz) to the Collared Grosbeak (Mycerobas affinis) with its nearly 23 cm (9 in) and 80 g (3 oz). They typically have strong, stubby beaks, which in some species can be quite large; however,Hawaiian honeycreepers are famous for the wide range of bill shapes and sizes brought about by adaptive radiation. All true finches have 12 remiges and 9 primary rectrices. The basic plumage color is brownish, sometimes greenish; many have considerable amounts of black, while white plumage is generally absent except as wing-bars or other signalling marks. Bright yellow and red carotenoid pigments are commonplace in this family, and thus blue structural colors are rather rare, as the yellow pigments turn the blue color into green. Many, but by no means all true finches have strong sexual dichromatism, the females typically lacking the bright carotenoid markings of males.[1]

Finches are typically inhabitants of well-wooded areas, but some can be found on mountains or even in deserts. They are primarily granivorous, but euphoniines include considerable amounts of arthropods and berries in their diet, and Hawaiian honeycreepers evolved to utilize a wide range of food sources, including nectar. The diet of Fringillidae nestlings includes a varying amount of small arthropods. True finches have a bouncing flight like most small passerines, alternating bouts of flapping with gliding on closed wings. Most sing well and several are commonly-seen cagebirds; foremost among these is the domesticated Canary (Serinus canaria domestica). The nests are basket-shaped and usually built in trees, more rarely in bushes, between rocks or on similar substrate.[1]

Systematics and Taxonomy

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The taxonomic structure of the true finch family, Fringillidae, has been fairly disputed in the past, with some upranking the Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanidinae) as family Drepanididae and/or uniting the cardueline and fringilline finches as tribes (Carduelini and Fringillini) in one subfamily; the euphonious finches (Euphoniinae) were thought to be tanagers due to general similarity in appearance and mode of life until their real affinities were realized. In particular North American authors have often have merged the buntings and American sparrow family (Ember izidae) – and sometimes the bulk of the nine-primaried oscines – with the split-up Fringillidae as subfamilies of a single massive family. But the current understanding of Passeroidea phylogeny is better reflected in keeping the fundamental nine-primaried oscine clades as distinct families. However, Przewalski's "Rosefinch" (Urocynchramus pylzowi) is now classified as a distinct family, monotypic as to genus and species, and with no particularly close relatives among the Passeroidea.[2]

Fossil remains of true finches are rare, and those that are known can mostly be assigned to extant genera at least. Like the other Passeroidea families, the true finches seem to be of roughly Middle Miocene origin, around 20-10 million years ago (Ma). An unidentifable finch fossil from the Messinian age, around 12 to 7.3 million years ago (Ma) during the Late Miocene subepoch, has been found at Polgárdi in Hungary.[3]

Subfamilies and Genera

Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), one of the Holarctic grosbeaks
Cassin's Finch ("Carpodacus" cassinii) is not part of the genus Carpodacus proper
Pallas' Rosefinch (Carpodacus roseus), a true rosefinch
Hooded Siskin (Carduelis (Spinus) magellanica)
?I?iwi (Vestiaria coccinea), a Hawaiian honeycreeper
Male Violaceous Euphonia (Euphonia violacea)

The systematics of the cardueline finches are contentious. The layout presented here follows the recent decades' molecular phylogenetic studies, and takes into account the traditional splitting of the genus Carduelis. The exact position of several genera in the cardueline sequence is tentative.[4]

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Tribe Carduelini is a member of the Subfamily Fringillinae. Here is the complete "parentage" of Carduelini:

The Tribe Carduelini is further organized into finer groupings including:

Genera

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Callacanthis

The Spectacled Finch (Callacanthis burtoni) is a species of in the Fringillidae family. It is found in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. [more]

Carduelis

The Carduelis is a large group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. It includes the greenfinches, redpolls, goldfinches, linnets, the twite, and the non-African siskins. No species of this group ranges far into Africa (where they are replaced by the related genus Serinus), and the centers of evolution were probably Eurasia and North America, with a secondary radiation in the Neotropics. [more]

Carpodacus

The rosefinches are in the finch family Fringillidae. Most Carpodacus species are so named, but three common North American ones are not. As the names imply, various shades of red are the characteristic plumage colors of this group. [more]

Chaunoproctus

The Bonin Grosbeak or Bonin Islands Grosbeak (Chaunoproctus ferreorostris) is an finch, the only species of the genus Chaunoproctus. It is one of the diverse bird taxa that are vernacularly called "grosbeaks", but it is not closely related to the grosbeaks sensu stricto. It was a retiring, although not shy bird, and was usually found singly or in pairs. It fed on fruits and buds which were primarily picked up from the ground or low shrubs; it rarely was observed to perch in trees, being apparently rather phlegmatic and somewhat reluctant to fly. Only one kind of vocalization has been described: a soft, pure and high note, sometimes short, sometimes drawn out; sometimes given singly, sometimes in a short series. [more]

Chloris

A genus in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]

Coccothraustes

Coccothraustes is a genus of large containing three species: [more]

Eophona

The Oriental (Eophona) are a genus of finches containing two species: [more]

Haematospiza

The Scarlet Finch (Haematospiza sipahi) is a species of in the Fringillidae family. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. [more]

Hesperiphona

Coccothraustes is a genus of large containing three species: [more]

Leucosticte

The mountain finches are in the genus Leucosticte from the true finch family, Fringillidae. This genus also includes the rosy finches, named from their pinkish plumage. They are apparently closely related to the bullfinches (Marten & Johnson, 1986) and to the Pine Grosbeak (Arnaiz-Villena et al., 2001), diverging from them not quite a dozen million years ago, at the end of the Middle Miocene. [more]

Linurgus

A Genus in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]

Loxia

The crossbills are birds in the family Fringillidae. The three to five (or possibly many more) species are all classified in the genus Loxia. These birds are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in color, and females green or yellow, but there is much variation. [more]

Mycerobas

The Mycerobas are a genus of finch in the Fringillidae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Neospiza

A Genus in the Kingdom Animalia. [more]

Pinicola

Pinicola is a possibly genus of "grosbeaks" of the true finch family, Fringillidae. It is closely related to the true bullfinches (Pyrrhula) and the Holarctic mountain finches (Leucosticte). [more]

Pyrrhoplectes

The Gold-naped Finch (Pyrrhoplectes epauletta) is a species of in the Fringillidae family. Its genus Pyrrhoplectes is monotypic. [more]

Pyrrhula

Pyrrhula is a small genus of birds, commonly called Bullfinches, belonging to the finch family (Fringillidae). [more]

Rhodopechys

Rhodopechys is a genus of containing three species: [more]

Rhynchostruthus

The Rhynchostruthus is a small group of finches in the family Fringillinae. Commonly known as golden-winged grosbeaks, they are attractive, chunky, medium-sized, robust-billed songbirds restricted to the southern Arabian and northern Somalian regions. [more]

Serinus

The genus Serinus is a large genus of in the finch family Fringillidae found mostly in the Afrotropical region with some outlying species in Europe and Asia. The genus contains several species groups including canaries, seedeaters and the African siskins. The majority of species are small to medium sized birds with green and yellow, often streaky plumage though there are a few notable exceptions. [more]

Uragus

The Long-tailed Rosefinch (Uragus sibiricus) is a species of of the Fringillidae family, in the presently monotypic genus Uragus. Some other rosefinches might eventually be moved there, however. [more]

At least 6 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Uragus.

More info about the Genus Uragus may be found here.

References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b c Newton (1973), Clement et al. (1993)
  2. ^ Clement et al. (1993), Groth (2000), Jřnsson & Fjeldsĺ (2006), Arnaiz-Villena et al. (2007)
  3. ^ Hír et al. (2001), Mlíkovský (2002)
  4. ^ Marten & Johnson (1986), Arnaiz-Villena et al. (1998, 2001, 2007, 2008)

Sources

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Last Revised: September 22, 2009
2009/09/22 15:09:35