燕雀属属

分类

该属下原本仅四个种，在2023年将苍头燕雀下的四个亚种提升为独立物种后其成员总数达至八种。

其中大加那利岛蓝燕雀原为特内里费岛蓝燕雀的亚种，2016年升为种。

The genus Fringilla, also known as chaffinches, 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:

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.

The eight species are all broadly similar size, 14–18 centimetres (5.5–7.1 in) 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. 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.