Green-winged pytilia

Green-winged pytilia
Adult male, Tsavo East NP, Kenya
Female, San Diego Zoo
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Estrildidae
Genus:	Pytilia
Species:	P. melba
Binomial name
Pytilia melba (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Fringilla melbaLinnaeus, 1758

The green-winged pytilia (Pytilia melba) is a small colourful seed-eating bird in the family Estrildidae. It is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, though it is more rarely seen in central, far southern and coastal western parts of the continent.

Taxonomy

The green-winged pytilia was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Fringilla melba. ^[2] No explanation was provided for the specific epithet melba but it could possibly be from a supposed Chinese word or place. ^[3] Linnaeus based his description on "The Green Gold-Finch" that had been described and illustrated in 1750 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. ^[4] Edwards was uncertain of the origin of his specimen and Linnaeus mistakenly specified the locality as China. The specimen was subsequently assumed to be from Angola, ^[5] but this was restricted to Luanda in Angola by Phillip Clancey in 1962. ^[6] The green-winged pytilia is now placed in the genus Pytilia that was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist William Swainson for the red-winged pytilia. ^{[7] [8]}

Eight subspecies are recognised: ^[8]

• P. m. citerior Strickland, 1853 – Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia to south Sudan
• P. m. jessei Shelley, 1903 – northeast Sudan to northwest Somalia
• P. m. soudanensis (Sharpe, 1890) – southeast Sudan, south Ethiopia, central, south Somalia, northeast Uganda and north, east Kenya
• P. m. percivali Van Someren, 1919 – central Kenya to north Tanzania
• P. m. belli Ogilvie-Grant, 1907 – east DR Congo and west Uganda to west Tanzania
• P. m. grotei Reichenow, 1919 – east Tanzania, north Mozambique and east Malawi
• P. m. hygrophila Irwin & Benson, 1967 – north Zambia and north Malawi
• P. m. melba (Linnaeus, 1758) – south Congo and Angola to southwest Tanzania and south to central Namibia, north South Africa and south Mozambique

Gallery

• 
  Male, San Diego Zoo
• 
  Male, Serengeti, Tanzania

References

1. BirdLife International. (2024). "Pytilia melba". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2024 e.T22719344A263912082. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22719344A263912082.en . Retrieved 23 February 2025.
2. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 180.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 248. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Edwards, George (1751). A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Vol. Part III. London: Printed for the author at the College of Physicians. p. 128, Plate 128.
5. Zedlitz, O. Graf (1916). "Das Süd-Somaliland als zoogeographisches Gebiet". Journal für Ornithologie (in German). 64 (1): 1–120 [31]. Bibcode:1916JOrni..64....1Z. doi:10.1007/BF02250363. S2CID   36424707.
6. Clancey, Phillip Alexander (1962). "On the validity of Pytilia melba damarensis Neunzig, 1928". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 82: 3–5 [4].
7. Swainson, William (1837). The Natural History of the Birds of Western Africa. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: W.H. Lizars. p. 203.
8. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

External links

• Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
• Green-winged Pytilia (Melba Finch) Species Profile