Melanospiza

Melanospiza
Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thraupidae
Genus:	Melanospiza Ridgway, 1897
Type species
Loxigilla richardsoni Cory, 1886

Melanospiza is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Melanospiza was introduced in 1897 by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway with the Saint Lucia black finch as the type species. ^{[1] [2]} The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" and spiza meaning "finch". ^[3] Although traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae, ^[2] molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the genus is a member of the tanager family Thraupidae and belongs to the subfamily Coerebinae which also contains Darwin's finches. ^[4]

The genus contains the following two species: ^[5]

Genus Melanospiza – Ridgway, 1897 – two species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Saint Lucia black finch	Melanospiza richardsoni (Cory, 1886)	Saint Lucia	Size: Habitat: Diet:	EN
Black-faced grassquit Male Female	Melanospiza bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) Eight subspecies M. b. bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) M. b. marchii (Baird, SF, 1864) M. b. omissa (Jardine, 1847) M. b. huilae (Miller, AH, 1952) M. b. grandior (Cory, 1887) M. b. johnstonei (Lowe, 1906) M. b. sharpei (Hartert, 1893) M. b. tortugensis (Cory, 1909)	West Indies, northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

References

1. Ridgway, Robert (1897). "Birds of the Galapagos Archipelago". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 19 (1116): 459-670 [466 note]. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.19-1116.459. hdl: 2027/mdp.39015068571168 . S2CID   84705983.
2. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 160.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 248. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Burns, K.J.; Shultz, A.J.; Title, P.O.; Mason, N.A.; Barker, F.K.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2014). "Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds" . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 75: 41–77. Bibcode:2014MolPE..75...41B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006. PMID   24583021.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2020). "Tanagers and allies". World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 July 2020.