Everything about Finches totally explained
Finches are
passerine birds, often
seed-eating, found chiefly in the northern hemisphere and
Africa. One subfamily is endemic to the
Neotropics. The family scientific name
Fringillidae comes from the
Latin word "fringilla", meaning
chaffinch, a member of this family that's common in Europe. The taxonomic structure of the true finch family, Fringillidae, is somewhat disputed, with some including the Hawaiian honeycreepers as another subfamily (
Drepanidinae) and/or uniting the cardueline and fringilline finches as
tribes (Carduelini and Fringillini) in one subfamily; the euphonious finches were thought to be tanagers due to general similarity in appearance and mode of life until their real affinities were realized; the
buntings and
American sparrows were formerly considered another subfamily (Emberizinae).
Przewalski's "Rosefinch" (
Urocynchramus pylzowi) is now classified as a distinct,
monotypic family with no particularly close relatives (Groth 2000).
"Classic" or true finches are small to moderately large and have strong, stubby
beaks, which in some species can be quite large. All have 12 tail feathers and 9 primaries. They have a bouncing flight, alternating bouts of flapping with gliding on closed wings, and most sing well. Their nests are basket-shaped and built in trees. The true finches range in size from the Andean Siskin (
Carduelis spinescens), at 9.5 cm (3.8 inches) and 8.4 g., to the Collared Grosbeak (
Mycerobas affinis), at nearly 23 cm (9 inches) and 79 g. (2.8 oz).
There are many birds in other families which are often called finches. These include many species in the very similar-looking Estrildids or
waxbill family, which occur in the Old World tropics and
Australia. Several groups of the
Emberizidae family (buntings and American sparrows) are also named as finches, as are
Darwin's finches of the
Galapagos islands, which provided evidence of natural selection.
Systematics
The systematics of the cardueline finches are contentious. The layout presented here follows the molecular studies of Marten & Johnson (1986) and Arnaiz-Villena
et al. (1998, 2001, 2007, 2008), and takes into account the traditional splitting of the genus
Carduelis. The exact position of several genera in the cardueline sequence is tentative.
Family Fringillidae
- Subfamily Fringillinae - Fringilline finches; contains only four species, which feed their young on insects rather than seeds.
Subfamily Carduelinae - Cardueline finches; a much larger group that contains several genera which feed their young on seeds. Studies of mitochondrial DNA suggest this subfamily consists of several well-defined clades.
- Hawfinches and Asian Grosbeaks.
- American Rosefinches.
- Bullfinches.
- "Arid-zone" clade.
- Asian Rosefinches.
- Genera as yet unplaced.
Subfamily Drepanidinae - Hawaiian honeycreepers. Usually treated as a separate family but biochemical studies (Arnaiz-Villena et al, 2007) place them as a well-defined clade deep within the Carduelines.
Subfamily Euphoniinae - Euphonious finches; endemic to the Neotropics; formerly treated in Thraupidae.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Finches'.
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