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Fringillinae

(Subfamily)

Overview

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The genus Fringilla is a small group of , which are the only species in the subfamily Fringillinae The three species, which feed their young on insects rather than seeds, are:

The other much larger subfamily is the Cardueline finches in the subfamily Carduelinae which feed their young on seeds.

The Fringilla finches are seed-eating passerine birds restricted to the Old World. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, but feed largely on the ground.

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Subfamily Fringillinae is a member of the Family Fringillidae. Here is the complete "parentage" of Fringillinae:

The Subfamily Fringillinae is further organized into finer groupings including:

Genera

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Akialoa

Hemignathus is a genus in the family Fringillidae. These birds are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. [more]

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]

Chloridops

Chloridops is an extinct genus of birds. It was comprised of three species: two on the big island of Hawaii and one on Oahu. No one is certain if there was a species on Maui or on other islands between Hawaii and Oahu. [more]

Chloris

Annuals or perennials, with rhizomes or stolons. Basal leaf sheaths rounded or keeled; leaf blades linear, flat or folded; ligule a short ciliolate membrane. Inflorescence of racemes, digitate or occasionally in 2 or more whorls; spikelets shortly pedicelled or subsessile, closely imbricate, biseriate. Spikelets laterally compressed, florets 2-4, lowermost fertile, successive florets male or sterile and progressively reduced, disarticulating above glumes; glumes unequal, usually shorter than florets, lanceolate, membranous, 1-veined, acuminate to an awn-point; callus bearded; lemma of fertile floret keeled, lanceolate to obovate, cartilaginous to leathery, usually ciliate on margins and keel, apex entire or emarginate, subapically mucronate or awned; palea as long as lemma; subsequent florets similar to fertile floret or of different shape or vestigial. Caryopsis ellipsoid to subterete, pericarp free though sometimes reluctantly so. x = 10.[1] [more]

Ciridops

Ciridops is an extinct genus of Hawaiian species that occurred in prehistoric and historic times on the Hawaiian islands of Hawai'i, Molokai, Kauai and Oahu. This genus was created in 1892 by Alfred Newton in the journal Nature on the basis of the ?Ula-?ai-Hawane which was named Fringilla anna by Sanford B. Dole in 1879. [more]

Coccothraustes

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

Drepanis

Mamo may refer to: [more]

Dysmorodrepanis

The Lana'i Hookbill (Dysmorodrepanis munroi) was a species of in the Drepanididae family. It was endemic to the island of Lana'i, Hawaii. It was last seen in the Kaiholeua Valley and Waiakeakua area of the island. It became extinct due to habitat loss. G.C. Munro collected a single specimen of this species on the island of Lanai in 1913. No specimens have been seen and or collected since. The specimen is housed in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. [more]

Eophona

Eophona is a genus of containing two species: [more]

Fringilla

The genus Fringilla is a small group of , which are the only species in the subfamily Fringillinae The three species, which feed their young on insects rather than seeds, are: [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]

Hemignathus

[more]

Hesperiphona

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

Himatione

[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

The Oriole Finch (Linurgus olivaceus) is a from the Fringillidae family. Found in Africa, native to Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It has a black head and yellow body. Natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. [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. [more]

Loxioides

Loxioides contains the following species: [more]

Loxops

Loxops is a genus in the family Fringillidae. [more]

Melamprosops

The Poouli or Black-faced Honeycreeper(Melamprosops phaeosoma) is a bird that is endemic to Hawai?i. It is considered to be a member of the Drepanidinae (Hawaiian honeycreeper) subfamily, and is the only member of its genus Melamprosops. The vernacular name (often erroneously spelled "po?o-uli", "poouli", "po?o?uli", "pouli" or "poo-uli") dates from the bird's discovery in 1973 and means 'dark head', referring to the bird's characteristic feature, a black 'bandit' mask. This is no original Hawaiian name. [more]

Mycerobas

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

Neospiza

The São Tomé Grosbeak, Neospiza concolor, is a large, chunky with a massive bill. It is endemic to the island of São Tomé. [more]

Oreomystis

Oreomystis is a genus of in the Fringillidae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Palmeria

[more]

Paroreomyza

Paroreomyza is a genus of in the Fringillidae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Pinicola

The Pine Grosbeak, Pinicola enucleator, is a large . It is the only member of its genus, Pinicola. It is found in coniferous woods across Canada, Alaska and the western mountains of the United States, and in northern Fennoscandia. Its diet consists mainly of seeds, buds, berries and insects. [more]

Pseudonestor

Pseudonestor is a genus of in the Fringillidae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Psittirostra

The ?O?u (the name is pronounced like "oh-ooh") (Psittirostra psittacea), is a bird that is endemic to the Hawaiian islands. There are no recent records, and it may be extinct. [more]

Pyrrhoplectes

Pyrrhoplectes is a genus of in the Fringillidae family. It contains the following species: [more]

Pyrrhula

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

Rhodacanthis

Rhodacanthis is an extinct genus of in the Fringillidae family, they are found only on the islands of Hawaii. They all have thick beaks that are used to crush seeds on open flowers. They all probably had a diet of O'hia a lea blossoms. They were all found on the Big Island of Hawaii. The last of the genus to die was a Greater Koa which died in 1896. They were birds that were from six inches to ten inches long and had colors of green, orange, brown, black, and white. They lived in loose groups or were solitary. Two speciceswere gone before scientists came tostudy the islands, the other two died out five years apart. The Lesser Koa went first and disappeared in 1891. Its larger cousin the Greater Koa Finch died out only five yearslater in 1896. Each speices was special in its own way. The Primitive Koa Finch was the ansecter It contains the following species: [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, citrils, 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]

Telespiza

Telespiza is a genus of in the family Drepanididae. It contains Hawaiian finches. [more]

Uragus

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]

Vestiaria

The I?iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) or Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper is a bird of the family Drepanididae, and the only member of the genus Vestiaria. One of the most plentiful species of this family, which includes many endangered or extinct species, the ?I?iwi is a highly recognizable symbol of Hawaii. The I’iwi is the third most common native land bird in the Hawaiian Islands. There are large colonies of I’iwi on the islands of Hawai’i and on Kauai. There are two small colonies on Molokai and Oahu and at one point there used to be I’iwi on Lanai. All together, the remaining populations add up to a total of 350,000 birds. [more]

Viridonia

[more]

At least 4 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Viridonia.

More info about the Genus Viridonia may be found here.

Footnotes

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  1. Bi-xing Sun & Sylvia M. Phillips "Chloris". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 488, 489, 490, 491. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Sources

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Last Revised: November 20, 2008