| Passerina | |
|---|---|
| |
| Painted bunting (Passerina ciris) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Cardinalidae |
| Genus: | Passerina Vieillot, 1816 |
| Type species | |
| Tanagra cyanea Linnaeus, 1766
| |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Guiraca | |
The genus Passerina is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not directly related to buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings (the North American Emberizidae are colloquially called "sparrows" although they are also not closely related to these birds).
The males show vivid colors in the breeding season; the plumage of females and immature birds is duller. These birds go through two molts in a year; the males are generally less colorful in winter. They have short tails and short slim legs. They have smaller bills than other Cardinalidae; they mainly eat seeds in winter and insects in summer.
The blue grosbeak (P. caerulea) was once placed in the monotypic genus, Guiraca.
Taxonomy and list of species
The genus Passerina was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816.[1] The type species was designated in 1840 as the indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) by the English zoologist George Robert Gray.[2][3] The genus name is from the Latin passerinus meaning "sparrow-like".[4]
The genus contains 7 species:[5]
| Male | Female | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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Blue grosbeak | Passerina caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758) | southern half of the United States and much of northern Mexico, migrating south to Central America and in very small numbers to northern South America; the southernmost record comes from eastern Ecuador. |
 |
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Indigo bunting | Passerina cyanea (Linnaeus, 1766) | southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern South America during the winter. |
 |
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Lazuli bunting | Passerina amoena (Say, 1822) | southern Canada to northern Texas, central New Mexico and Arizona, and southern California. |
 |
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Varied bunting | Passerina versicolor (Bonaparte, 1838) | Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States south throughout Mexico as far as Oaxaca |
 |
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Painted bunting | Passerina ciris (Linnaeus, 1758) | southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern and eastern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, northern Florida, coastal Georgia, the southern coast and inland waterways such as the Santee River of South Carolina and northern Mexico. |
 |
Rose-bellied bunting | Passerina rositae (Lawrence, 1874) | Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas | |
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Orange-breasted bunting | Passerina leclancherii Lafresnaye, 1840 | Mexico |
References
- ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 30.
- ^ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 46.
- ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 237–238.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Cardinals, grosbeaks and (tanager) allies". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
| Authority control databases: National |
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This page was last edited on 4 January 2024, at 17:57