Linaria | |
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Male common linnet (Linaria cannabina) in breeding plumage | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Fringillidae |
Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
Genus: | Linaria Bechstein, 1802 |
Type species | |
Fringilla cannabina [1] Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
See text |
Linaria is a genus of small passerine birds in the finch family (Fringillidae) that contains the twite and the linnets. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax". [2]
The species were formerly included in the genus Carduelis . A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012 found that the genus was polyphyletic. [3] It was therefore split into monophyletic genera and the twite and the linnets moved to the resurrected genus Linaria. [4] The name had originally been introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. [5]
The genus contains four species: [4]
Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
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![]() | Linaria flavirostris | Twite | northern Europe and across central Asia |
![]() | Linaria cannabina | Common linnet | Europe, western Asia and north Africa |
![]() | Linaria yemenensis | Yemen linnet | Saudi Arabia and Yemen |
Linaria johannis | Warsangli linnet | Somaliland | |