Carduelis

The genus Carduelis^[1] is a large group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. It includes the greenfinches, redpolls, goldfinches, linnets, the twite, and the non-African siskins. No species of this group ranges far into Africa (where they are replaced by the related genus Serinus), and the centers of evolution were probably Eurasia and North America, with a secondary radiation in the Neotropics.

The interrelationship of these species is complex and contentious. It is fairly certain that the crossbills are actually derived from proto-redpoll ancestors quite recently, and it was suggested that they should be placed in the same genus, for which the name Loxia would then have priority. On the other hand, the greenfinches (which are apparently the most distinct group) and the redpolls have themselves been separated in distinct genera which might be the best way to express both the actual evolutionary relationships and the evolutionarily significant distinctiveness of the crossbills. The molecular data indicates that the major lineages split in the Late Miocene (Tortonian, roughly 9-7 mya), but it is unable to suggest any one robust arrangement either of the major groups among each other, among the lineages of Carduelis sensu stricto, or indeed among two separate Serinus lineages (Ryan et al, 2004). As only the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence has hitherto been studied (Arnaiz-Villena et al., 1998), more data is clearly necessary.

Here, the species of Carduelis sensu lato are listed according to current knowledge. The genus Carduelis sensu stricto could conceivably be split further, and in this case only the European Goldfinch and the Citril and Corsican Finch (newly placed in his genus) would remain in Carduelis.

Greenfinches

(Sub)Genus Chloris

• Black-headed Greenfinch, Carduelis ambigua
• European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris
• Oriental Greenfinch, Carduelis sinica
• Vietnamese Greenfinch, Carduelis monguilloti
• Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, Carduelis spinoides
• The Desert Finch, Carduelis obsoletus, has recently turned out be a primitive form in this group (Zamora et al., 2006).

Redpolls

(Sub)Genus Acanthis

• Arctic Redpoll, or Hoary Redpoll, Carduelis hornemanni
• Common Redpoll, or Mealy Redpoll, Carduelis flammea
• Lesser Redpoll, Carduelis cabaret

Crossbills

(Sub)Genus Loxia

• 3 - 5+ species

Carduelis sensu stricto

Carduelis group

• European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis
• Citril Finch, Carduelis citrinella - formerly Serinus citrinella
• Corsican Finch, Carduelis corsicanus - formerly Serinus corsicanus

Linaria group - linnets and Twite

• Eurasian Linnet, Carduelis cannabina
• Warsangli Linnet, Carduelis johannis
• Yemen Linnet, Carduelis yemenensis
• Twite, Carduelis flavirostris

Spinus group - American goldfinches and siskins

American goldfinches

• American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis
• Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria
• Lawrence's Goldfinch, Carduelis lawrencei

Northern siskins

• Eurasian Siskin, or Spruce Siskin, Carduelis spinus
• Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus

Neotropical siskins

• Andean Siskin, Carduelis spinescens
• Antillean Siskin, Carduelis dominicensis
• Black Siskin, Carduelis atrata
• Black-capped Siskin, Carduelis atriceps
• Black-chinned Siskin, Carduelis barbata
• Black-headed Siskin, Carduelis notata
• Hooded Siskin, Carduelis magellanica
• Olivaceous Siskin, Carduelis olivacea
• Red Siskin, Carduelis cucullata
• Saffron Siskin, Carduelis siemiradzkii
• Thick-billed Siskin, Carduelis crassirostris
• Yellow-bellied Siskin, Carduelis xanthogastra
• Yellow-faced Siskin, Carduelis yarrellii
• Yellow-rumped Siskin, Carduelis uropygialis

Fossil species

• Trías Greenfinch, Carduelis triasi - Holocene of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.

Possible Carduelis species

These species may be related to various groups or subgenera currently classified as members of Carduelis but have yet to be studied biochemically:

• Mountain Serin, Serinus estherae - (Relationships obscure).
• Tibetan Serin, Serinus thibetanus - (Sometimes Tibetan Siskin, Carduelis thibetana is used as in Grimmett et al 1999).
• Ankober Serin, Serinus ankoberensis - (Carduelis ankoberensis on the African Bird Club list).
• Golden-winged Grosbeak, Rhynchostruthus socotranus - (Relationship with Carduelis discussed in Fry et al 2004 and Martins 1987)

References

• African Bird Club list (Passerines). http://www.africanbirdclub.org/resources/passerines_2006.doc

• Alcover, J. A.; Florit, F. 1987. Una nueva especie de Carduelis (Fringillidae) de La Palma. Vieraea 17 : 75-86

• Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Álvarez-Tejado, M.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; García-de-la-Torre, C.; Varela, P.; Recio, M. J.; Ferre. S. & Martínez-Laso, J. (1998): Phylogeny and rapid Northern and Southern Hemisphere speciation of goldfinches during the Miocene and Pliocene Epochs. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 54(9): 1031–1041. doi:10.1007/s000180050230 PDF fulltext. Erratum, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 55(1): 148. doi:10.1007/s000180050280 PDF fulltext

• Fry, H.; Keith, S.; Urban, E. & Woodcock, M. 2004. The Birds of Africa, Volume 7. Christopher Helm

• Grimmett, R.; Inskipp,C. & Inskipp, T. 1999. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent . Princeton University Press

• Martins, R.P. 1987. The Golden-winged Grosbeak in North Yemen. Sandgrouse 9: 106-110
  

• Ryan, P.G.; Wright, D.; Oatley, G.; Wakeling, J.; Cohen, C.; Nowell, T.L.; Bowie, R.C.K.; Ward, V. & Crowe, T.M. 2004. Systematics of Serinus canaries and the status of Cape and Yellow-crowned Canaries inferred from mtDNA and morphology. Ostrich 75:288-294.

• Zamora, Jorge; Lowy, Ernesto; Ruiz-del-Valle, Valentin; Moscoso, Juan; Serrano-Vela, Juan Ignacio; Rivero-de-Aguilar, Juan & Arnaiz-Villena, Antonio (2006): Rhodopechys obsoleta (desert finch): a pale ancestor of greenfinches (Carduelis spp.) according to molecular phylogeny. Journal of Ornithology 147(3): 448–456. doi:10.1007/s10336-005-0036-2 (HTML abstract). Erratum, Journal of Ornithology 147(3): 511–512 doi:10.1007/s10336-006-0072-6

• Van der Meij, M.A.A.; de Bakker, M.A.G. & Bout, R.G. A phylogeny of finches and their relatives based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.

Footnotes

1. ^ From Latin carduus, "thistle". Thistle seeds are a favorite food of many species.

External links

• Carduelis videos on the Internet Bird Collectioncs:Carduelis

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