The true finches are small to medium-sized
passerinebirds in the
familyFringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not
migrate. They have a worldwide native distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty
genera. It includes the
canaries,
siskins,
redpolls,
serins,
grosbeaks and
euphonias, as well as the morphologically divergent
Hawaiian honeycreepers.
Finches and canaries were used in the UK, US and Canada in the
coal mining industry to detect
carbon monoxide from the eighteenth to twentieth century. This practice ceased in the UK in 1986.[2]
Systematics and taxonomy
The name Fringillidae for the finch
family was introduced in 1819 by the English
zoologistWilliam Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the
British Museum.[3][4] The taxonomy of the family, in particular the cardueline finches, has a long and complicated history. The study of the relationship between the
taxa has been confounded by the recurrence of similar morphologies due to the
convergence of species occupying similar niches.[5] In 1968 the American ornithologist
Raymond Andrew Paynter, Jr. wrote:
Limits of the genera and relationships among the species are less understood – and subject to more controversy – in the carduelines than in any other species of passerines, with the possible exception of the estrildines [waxbills].[6]
Beginning around 1990 a series of phylogenetic studies based on
mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences resulted in substantial revisions in the taxonomy. Several groups of birds that had previously been assigned to other families were found to be related to the finches. The
NeotropicalEuphonia and the Chlorophonia were formerly placed in the tanager family
Thraupidae due to their similar appearance but analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed that both genera were more closely related to the finches. They are now placed in a separate subfamily Euphoniinae within the Fringillidae.[7][8] The
Hawaiian honeycreepers were at one time placed in their own family, Drepanididae but were found to be closely related to the Carpodacus rosefinches and are now placed within the Carduelinae subfamily.[5] The three largest genera, Carpodacus, Carduelis and Serinus were found to be
polyphyletic.[5][9][10] Each was split into
monophyletic genera. The American rosefinches were moved from Carpodacus to Haemorhous. Carduelis was split by moving the greenfinches to Chloris and a large clade into Spinus leaving just three species in the original genus. Thirty seven species were moved from Serinus to Crithagra leaving eight species in the original genus.[8] Today the family Fringillidae is divided into three
subfamilies, the
Fringillinae containing a single
genus with the chaffinches, the
Carduelinae containing 183 species divided into 49 genera, and the
Euphoniinae containing the Euphonia and the Chlorophonia.[5]
Although
Przewalski's "rosefinch" (Urocynchramus pylzowi) has ten
primary flight feathers rather than the nine primaries of other finches, it was sometimes classified in the Carduelinae. It is now assigned to a distinct family, Urocynchramidae, monotypic as to genus and species, and with no particularly close relatives among the
Passeroidea.[8][11]
Cladogram based on the analysis by Zuccon and colleagues published in 2012,[5] Hawaiian honeycreeper phylogeny based on Lerner and colleagues, 2011[12] and Pratt (2014).[13] Genera or clades with question marks (?) are of controversial or uncertain taxonomic placement. The rosefinches genus Carpodacus is expanded to include the
common rosefinch as suggested by Tietze and colleagues[14] and adopted by the
International Ornithological Committee.[8]
The smallest "classical" true finches are the
Andean siskin (Spinus spinescens) at as little as 9.5 cm (3.8 in) and the
lesser goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) at as little as 8 g (0.28 oz). The largest species is probably the
collared grosbeak (Mycerobas affinis) at up to 24 cm (9.4 in) and 83 g (2.9 oz), although larger lengths, to 25.5 cm (10.0 in) in the
pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), and weights, to 86.1 g (3.04 oz) in the
evening grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina), have been recorded in species which are slightly smaller on average.[18][19] They typically have strong, stubby
beaks, which in some species can be quite large; however,
Hawaiian honeycreepers are famous for the wide range of bill shapes and sizes brought about by
adaptive radiation. All true finches have 9 primary
remiges and 12
rectrices. The basic
plumage colour is brownish, sometimes greenish; many have considerable amounts of black, while white plumage is generally absent except as wing-bars or other signalling marks. Bright yellow and red
carotenoidpigments are commonplace in this family, and thus blue
structural colours are rather rare, as the yellow pigments turn the blue color into green. Many, but by no means all true finches have strong
sexual dichromatism, the females typically lacking the bright carotenoid markings of males.[1]
Distribution and habitat
The finches have a near-global distribution, being found across the Americas, Eurasia and Africa, as well as some island groups such as the Hawaiian islands. They are absent from Australasia, Antarctica, the Southern Pacific and the islands of the Indian Ocean, although some European species have been widely
introduced in Australia and New Zealand.
Finches are typically inhabitants of well-wooded areas, but some can be found on mountains or even in
deserts.
Behaviour
The finches are primarily
granivorous, but
euphoniines include considerable amounts of
arthropods and
berries in their diet, and Hawaiian honeycreepers
evolved to utilize a wide range of food sources, including
nectar. The diet of Fringillidae
nestlings includes a varying amount of small arthropods. True finches have a bouncing flight like most small
passerines, alternating bouts of flapping with gliding on closed wings. Most sing well and several are commonly seen
cagebirds; foremost among these is the
domesticatedcanary (Serinus canaria domestica). The nests are basket-shaped and usually built in trees, more rarely in bushes, between rocks or on similar substrate.[1]
List of genera
The family Fringillidae contains 235 species divided into 50 genera and three subfamilies. The subfamily
Carduelinae includes 18 extinct Hawaiian honeycreepers and the extinct
Bonin grosbeak.[8] See
List of Fringillidae species for further details.
Subfamily Fringillinae
Fringilla – 5 species of chaffinch, 2 species of blue chaffinch, and the
brambling
^Leach, William Elford (1819).
"Eleventh Room". Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum (15th ed.). London: British Museum. pp. 63–68 [65]. Although the name of the author is not specified in the document, Leach was the Keeper of Zoology at the time.
^
abcdeGill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.).
"Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.3. International Ornithologists' Union.
Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
^Arnaiz-Villena, A.; Guillén, J.; Ruiz-del-Valle, V.; Lowy, E.; Zamora, J.; Varela, P.; Stefani, D.; Allende, L.M. (July 2001). "Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches". Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 58 (8): 1159–1166.
doi:
10.1007/PL00000930.
PMID11529508.
S2CID6241573.
^Nguembock, B.; Fjeldså, J.; Couloux, A.; Pasquet, E. (May 2009). "Molecular phylogeny of Carduelinae (Aves, Passeriformes, Fringillidae) proves polyphyletic origin of the genera Serinus and Carduelis and suggests redefined generic limits". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 51 (2): 169–181.
doi:
10.1016/j.ympev.2008.10.022.
PMID19027082.