Ankober serin

{{Short description|Species of bird}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Ankober serin

| status = VU

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=Crithagra ankoberensis |volume=2018 |page=e.T22720246A130904034 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22720246A130904034.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}

| genus = Crithagra

| species = ankoberensis

| authority = (Ash, 1979)

| synonyms =Serinus ankoberensis}}

The Ankober serin (Crithagra ankoberensis) is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is a small brown seedeater, about 12 centimeters or 5 inches in length with brown upperparts and its head and breast distinguished with heavy buffy-colored streaking. It is gregarious and is often encountered in flocks. Its song consists of a constant, low twitter.Nigel Redman, Terry Stevenson, and John Fanshawe, Birds of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Socotra (Princeton: University Press, 2009), p. 454

This bird is endemic to Ethiopia, inhabiting steep rocky slopes and high cliff-tops; the reported range of the Ankober serin consists of several disjointed areas in northern Shewa and in the northern Amhara Region. It is threatened by habitat loss.

The Ankober serin was formerly placed in the genus Serinus but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic.{{cite journal | last1=Zuccon | first1=Dario | last2=Prŷs-Jones | first2=Robert | last3=Rasmussen | first3=Pamela C. | last4=Ericson | first4=Per G.P. | year=2012 | title=The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=62 | issue=2 | pages=581–596 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002 | url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.9ff3752132fdaeccb6800010935/Zuccon%20et%20al%202012.pdf | pmid=22023825}} The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the Ankober serin were moved to the resurrected genus Crithagra.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | title=Finches, euphonias | work= World Bird List Version 5.2| url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/finches/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date=5 June 2015 }}{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1827 | title=On several forms in ornithology not hitherto defined | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=3 | page=348 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2339407 }}