Melopyrrha

Melopyrrha is a genus of passerine birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is made up of three species, endemic to the Greater Antilles.

Melopyrrha
Cuban bullfinch (Melopyrrha nigra)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Melopyrrha
Bonaparte, 1853
Type species
Loxia nigra
Linnaeus, 1858

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Melopyrrha was introduced in 1853 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[1] The type species was later specified by George Robert Gray as the Cuban bullfinch.[2] The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with the genus Pyrrhula introduced by Mathurin Jacques Brisson for the bullfinches.[3] This genus was formerly monospecific containing only the Cuban bullfinch.[4] A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Loxigilla was polyphyletic and that the Greater Antillean bullfinch, Puerto Rican bullfinch and Cuban bullfinch formed a clade.[5] The three species were therefore placed together in Melopyrrha.[6]

Although these species were traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae,[4] molecular genetic studies have shown that they are members of the tanager family Thraupidae and belong to the subfamily Coerebinae that also contains Darwin's finches.[5]

The three species in the genus are:[6]

References
  1. Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1853). "Notes sur les collections rapportées en 1853, par M. A. Delattre, de son voyage en Californie et dans le Nicaragua: Troisième communication - Passereux Conirostres". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 37: 913-925 [924].
  2. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 82.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 250. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Volume 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 151.
  5. Burns, K.J.; Shultz, A.J.; Title, P.O.; Mason, N.A.; Barker, F.K.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2014). "Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 75: 41–77. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006.
  6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Tanagers and allies". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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