Fringilla

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Genus of birds

title: "Fringilla" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fringilla", "bird-genera", "animal-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus"] description: "Genus of birds" topic_path: "general/fringilla" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringilla" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of birds ::

| name = Fringilla | image = Fringilla coelebs chaffinch male edit2.jpg | image_caption = Male Eurasian chaffinch | parent_authority =Leach, 1820 | taxon = Fringilla | authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | type_species = Fringilla coelebs | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision =

The genus Fringilla is a small group of eight species of finches from the Old World. It is the only genus in the subfamily Fringillinae.

Taxonomy

The genus Fringilla was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The genus name Fringilla is Latin for "finch". Linnaeus included 30 species in the genus (Fringilla zena was listed twice) and of these the Eurasian chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) is considered as the type species.

Species

By the early 20th century, the genus was considered to include just three species, with the other species included by Linnaeus transferred to other genera. In 2016, it was proposed that the extremely rare Gran Canaria blue chaffinch subspecies F. teydea polatzeki be treated as a separate species, thus accepting a fourth species, F. polatzeki.

A major genetic, morphological, and behavioural study in 2021 then divided the former common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs sensu lato) into five species, so the genus is now accepted as containing eight species: ::data[format=table]

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
[[File:Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs).jpg120px]]Fringilla coelebsEurasian chaffinch
[[File:African Chaffinch (Fringilla spodiogenys) male Morocco.jpg120px]]Fringilla spodiogenysAfrican chaffinch
[[File:Açores 452A1626 (35867036050).jpg120px]]Fringilla morelettiAzores chaffinch
[[File:FringillaCoelebsMadeirensis 3749.jpg120px]]Fringilla maderensisMadeira chaffinch
[[File:Fringilla coelebs palmae - Los Tilos.jpg120px]]Fringilla canariensisCanary Islands chaffinch
[[File:Pinzón azul de Gran Canaria (macho), M. A. Peña.jpg120px]]Fringilla polatzekiGran Canaria blue chaffinch
[[File:Teidefink.jpg120px]]Fringilla teydeaTenerife blue chaffinch
[[File:Fringilla montifringilla Oulu 20120507b.JPG120px]]Fringilla montifringillaBrambling
::

The Eurasian chaffinch is found primarily in forest habitats, in Europe and western Asia; the other species formerly treated as subspecies of it occur in North Africa and Macaronesia; the blue chaffinches are island endemics; and the brambling breeds in the northern taiga and southern tundra of Eurasia.{{Cite book | last = Newton | first = Ian | title = Finches | series = New Naturalist 55 | publisher = Taplinger | year = 1973 | location = New York | pages = 19–30 | isbn = 0-8008-2720-1}}

The eight species are all broadly similar size, 14 – in length, with brambling the smallest, and Tenerife blue chaffinch the largest; they are all similar in shape. They have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings.{{Cite book | last = Clement | first = Peter |author2= Harris, Alan|author3=Davis, John | title = Finches and Sparrows | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1993 | location = Princeton, New Jersey | pages = | isbn = 0-691-03424-9}} They are not as specialised as other finches, eating both insects and seeds. While breeding, they feed their young on insects rather than seeds, unlike other finches.

References

References

  1. Linnaeus, Carl. (1758). "Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis". Laurentii Salvii.
  2. Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
  3. (1968). "Check-List of Birds of the World". Museum of Comparative Zoology.
  4. (2016). "Integrative taxonomy reveals Europe's rarest songbird species, the Gran Canaria blue chaffinch ''Fringilla polatzeki''". Journal of Avian Biology.
  5. "The Rarest Songbird in Europe". Wildlife Articles.
  6. (2021). "Sequential colonization of oceanic archipelagos led to a species-level radiation in the common chaffinch complex (Aves: Fringilla coelebs)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
  7. (2025-02-20). "Finches, euphonias, longspurs, Thrush-tanager".
  8. (2019). "Handbook of Western Palearctic birds. volume 2: Passerines: flycatchers to buntings". Helm.

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