Yellow-breasted greenfinch

The yellow-breasted greenfinch (Chloris spinoides) is a small passerine bird in the family Fringillidae that is native to the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.

Yellow-breasted greenfinch
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Chloris
Species:
C. spinoides
Binomial name
Chloris spinoides
(Vigors, 1831)
Synonyms

Carduelis spinoides

Eggs at Muséum de Toulouse

Taxonomy

The yellow-breasted greenfinch was described by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1831 under the binomial name Carduelis spinides.[2][3] Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the greenfinches are not closely related to the species in the genus Carduelis. They have therefore been moved to the resurrected genus Chloris which had been introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800.[4][5][6] The word Chloris is from the Ancient Greek word khlōris for the European greenfinch; the specific epithet is from spinus in Fringilla spinus Linnaeus, 1758, the Eurasian siskin, and the Ancient Greek suffix -oidēs meaning "resembling".[7]

Two subspecies are recognised:[5]

  • Himalayan yellow-breasted greenfinch (C. s. spinoides) (Vigors, 1831) – Pakistan, the Himalayas, northeastern India and southern Tibet
  • Indian yellow-breasted greenfinch (C. s. heinrichi) (Stresemann, 1940) – northeastern India and western Myanmar

Description

The yellow-breasted greenfinch is 12–14 cm (4.7–5.5 in) in length and weighs between 15 and 21 g (0.53 and 0.74 oz). It has a brown conical bill and bright yellow wing bars. The underparts are bright yellow. The sexes have similar plumage but the female is less brightly coloured.[8]

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs primarily in the mid-altitudes of the Himalayas, and in parts of Southeast Asia. It ranges across Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and temperate shrubland.[1]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Carduelis spinoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1831). "Carduelis spinoïdes". Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London. Part 1: 44.
  3. Paynter, Raymond A. Jnr., ed. (1968). Check-list of birds of the world, Volume 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 237.
  4. Zuccon, Dario; Prŷs-Jones, Robert; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Ericson, Per G.P. (2012). "The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 62 (2): 581–596. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002. PMID 22023825.
  5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  6. Cuvier, Georges (1800). Leçons d'anatomie comparée. Volume 1. Paris: Baudouin. Table 2. The year on the title page is An VIII.
  7. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 102, 362. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. Clement, P. (2017). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Yellow-breasted Greenfinch (Chloris spinoides)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 23 October 2017.


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