Passerina

Last updated

Passerina
PaintedBunting23.jpg
Painted bunting (Passerina ciris)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
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
LinariaBartram, 1791

The genus Passerina is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not closely related to the buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings.

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]

Genus – seven species
Common nameScientific name and subspeciesRangeSize and ecologyIUCN status and estimated population
Blue grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak (1).jpg
Male
Blue Grosbeak female RWD2.jpg
Female

Passerina caerulea
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Seven subspecies
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.
Passerina caerulea map.svg
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


Indigo bunting

Indigo Bunting by Dan Pancamo 4.jpg
Male
Indigo Bunting (female) Sabine Woods High Island TX 2018-04-26 12-50-48 (41371613394).jpg
Female

Passerina cyanea
(Linnaeus, 1766)
southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern South America during the winter.
IndigoBuntingRangeMapCropped.png
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


Lazuli bunting

Lazuli Bunting (42190002124).jpg
Male
Passerina amoena - Enderby, BC.jpg
Female

Passerina amoena
(Say, 1822)
southern Canada to northern Texas, central New Mexico and Arizona, and southern California.
Passerina amoena map.svg
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


Varied bunting

Passerina versicolor, Patagonia Lake, Arizona 1.jpg
Male
Colorin Morado -Passerina versicolor- Varied Bunting (hembra) - panoramio.jpg
Female

Passerina versicolor
(Bonaparte, 1838)
Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States south throughout Mexico as far as Oaxaca
Passerina versicolor map.svg
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


Painted bunting

Passerina ciris-20090208.jpg
Male
Female Painted Bunting (5270948788).jpg
Female

Passerina ciris
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Two subspecies
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.
Passerina ciris distribution.jpg
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


Rose-bellied bunting

Rose-bellied Bunting - Chiapas - Mexico S4E8298 (23703263002).jpg
Male

Passerina rositae
(Lawrence, 1874)
Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas
Passerina rositae range map.png
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 NT 


Orange-breasted bunting

Orange Breasted Butnin.jpg
Male

Passerina leclancherii
Lafresnaye, 1840
Mexico
Distribucion del colorin pecho naranja.png
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


References

  1. Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 30.
  2. 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.
  3. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 237–238.
  4. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 294. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Cardinals, grosbeaks and (tanager) allies". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 June 2019.