Sporophila

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Sporophila-corvina-001.jpg

| image_caption = Male variable seedeater

| image2 = Seedeater (Sporophila sp.) female.JPG

| image2_caption = Female

| taxon = Sporophila

| authority = Cabanis, 1844

| type_species = Pyrrhula falcirostris

| type_species_authority = Temminck, 1820

}}

Sporophila is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. The genus now includes the six seed finches that were previously placed in the genus Oryzoborus.

They are relatively small with stubby, conical bills adapted for feeding on seeds and alike. Most species are strongly sexually dimorphic, and while "typical" adult males often are distinctive, female and immatures of both sexes can be very difficult (in some species virtually impossible) to identify to exact species.Ridgely, R. S., & G. Tudor (1989). The Birds of South America. Vol. 1. Univ. Texas Press, Austin Females of at least some of these species have different ultraviolet colours, which can be seen by birds, but not humans.Benites, P., Eaton, M. D., Lijtmaer, D. A., Lougheed, S. C. & Tubaro, P. L. (2010). Analysis from avian visual perspective reveals plumage colour differences among females of capuchino seedeaters (Sporophila). J. Avian Biology. 41: 597–602. Female-like (paedomorphic) males apparently also occur, at least in some species.Areta, J. I. (2009). Paedomorphosis in Sporophila seedeaters. Bull. B.O.C. 2009 129(2): 98-103.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Spermophila was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827.{{ cite journal | last=Swainson | first=William | author-link=William Swainson | year=1827 | title=On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined | journal=Zoological Journal | volume=3 | pages=158–175, 343–363 [348] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27485874 }} The type species was subsequently designated as Temminck's seedeater (Sporophila falcirostris) by George Robert Gray in 1841.{{ cite book | last=Gray | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1841 | title=A List of the Genera of Birds : with their Synonyma and an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus | edition=2nd | place=London | publisher= R. and J.E. Taylor | page=63 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14050294 }} As the genus name Spermophila had been introduced by John Richardson in 1825 for a genus of mammals,{{ cite book | last=Richardson | first=John | author-link=John Richardson (naturalist) | year=1825 | title=Appendix to Captain Parry's journal of a second voyage for the discovery of a North West passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific performed in His Majesty's ships Fury and Hecla, in the years 1821-22-23 | location=London | publisher=J. Murray | page=313 | isbn=9780665418341 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33582465 }} the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis coined the present name Sporophila as a replacement in 1844.{{ cite journal | last=Cabanis | first=Jean | author-link=Jean Cabanis | year=1844 | title=Avium conspectus quae in Republica Peruana reperiuntur et pleraeqiio observatae vel collectae sunt in itinere a Dr. J.J. de Tschudi | language=la | journal=Archiv für Naturgeschichte | volume=10 | pages=262–317 [291] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13704194 }}{{ cite book | editor-last=Paynter | editor-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1970 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=13 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=133 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483368 }} The name combines the Ancient Greek {{lang|grc-Latn|sporos}} meaning "seed" and {{lang|grc-Latn|philos}} meaning "-loving".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl | url-access=limited | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl/page/n363 363] }}

The genus now includes the six seed finches that were previously placed in Oryzoborus as well as the thick-billed seed finch that was the only species in Dolospingus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that these seven species were embedded in Sporophila.{{cite journal| last1=Burns | first1=K.J. | last2=Shultz | first2=A.J. | last3=Title | first3=P.O. | last4=Mason | first4=N.A. | last5=Barker | first5=F.K. | last6=Klicka | first6=J. | last7=Lanyon | first7=S.M. | last8=Lovette | first8=I.J. | year=2014 | title=Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution| volume=75| pages=41–77 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006 | pmid=24583021 | bibcode=2014MolPE..75...41B | url=https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3613&context=biosci_pubs }}

The genus contains 41 species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=New World warblers, mitrospingid tanagers | website=IOC World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/warblers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=4 October 2019 }}

Image ! Common name ! Scientific name ! Distribution
class="wikitable collapsible"
120px	Lesson's seedeater	Sporophila bouvronides	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px	Lined seedeater	Sporophila lineola	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
120px	Cinnamon-rumped seedeater	Sporophila torqueola	western Mexico
120px	Morelet’s seedeater	Sporophila morelleti	Rio Grande Valley through eastern Mexico and Central America to western Panama
120px	Variable seedeater	Sporophila corvina	southern Mexico through Central America to the Chocó of northwestern South America
120px	Grey seedeater	Sporophila intermedia	Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px	Wing-barred seedeater	Sporophila americana	north-eastern Venezuela, Tobago, the Guianas, Brazil
	White-naped seedeater	Sporophila fringilloides	Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
120px	Black-and-white seedeater	Sporophila luctuosa	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
120px	Double-collared seedeater	Sporophila caerulescens	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay
120px	Yellow-bellied seedeater	Sporophila nigricollis	Costa Rica to Bolivia
120px	Dubois's seedeater	Sporophila ardesiaca	east-central Brazil
120px	Thick-billed seed finch	Sporophila funerea	southern Mexico, through Central America, to the Chocó in Colombia and Ecuador.
120px	Chestnut-bellied seed finch	Sporophila angolensis	Trinidad, Tobago, east Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Bolivia to east Brazil, Paraguay and northeast Argentina
120px	Nicaraguan seed finch	Sporophila nuttingi	Costa Rica, Nicaragua and northwestern Panama.
120px	Great-billed seed finch	Sporophila maximiliani	Brazil
120px	Large-billed seed finch	Sporophila crassirostris	Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px	Black-billed seed finch	Sporophila atrirostris	Ecuador, Peru and northwestern Bolivia
120px	Slate-coloured seedeater	Sporophila schistacea	Central America, the southwestern Amazon Basin, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and the Guianas.
120px	Temminck's seedeater	Sporophila falcirostris	Argentina and southeastern Brazil
120px	Buffy-fronted seedeater	Sporophila frontalis	northeastern Argentina and along the southeastern Brazil
120px	Plumbeous seedeater	Sporophila plumbea	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
120px	Tropeiro seedeater	Sporophila beltoni	Brazil
120px	Rusty-collared seedeater	Sporophila collaris	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
120px	White-throated seedeater	Sporophila albogularis	Brazil.
120px	White-bellied seedeater	Sporophila leucoptera	Bolivia, Paraguay and eastern Brazil
120px	Parrot-billed seedeater	Sporophila peruviana	Ecuador and western Peru.
120px	Chestnut-throated seedeater	Sporophila telasco	southwestern Colombia to far northern Chile.
120px	Drab seedeater	Sporophila simplex	Ecuador and Peru.
120px	Chestnut-bellied seedeater	Sporophila castaneiventris	Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela
120px	Ruddy-breasted seedeater	Sporophila minuta	Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px	Copper seedeater	Sporophila bouvreuil	Brazil and Suriname.
120px	Black-and-tawny seedeater	Sporophila nigrorufa	eastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil.
120px	Tawny-bellied seedeater	Sporophila hypoxantha	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
120px	Dark-throated seedeater	Sporophila ruficollis	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
120px	Pearly-bellied seedeater	Sporophila pileata	Brazil, Paraguay, northern Uruguay and northeastern Argentina.
120px	Rufous-rumped seedeater	Sporophila hypochroma	Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay
120px	Chestnut seedeater	Sporophila cinnamomea	Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
120px	Marsh seedeater	Sporophila palustris	Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
120px	Black-bellied seedeater	Sporophila melanogaster	Brazil.
120px	Ibera seedeater	Sporophila iberaensis	Argentina.

Possible extinct species:

Hooded seedeater, Sporophila melanops – possibly extinct (20th century?), a hybrid or a color morph of S. nigricollis

References

Lijtmaer, D. A., N. M. Sharpe, P. L. Tubaro & S. C. Lougheed. 2004. Molecular phylogenetics and diversification of the genus Sporophila (Aves: Passeriformes). Mol. Philo. Evol. 33:562-579.
Robbins, M. B., M. J. Braun, C. J. Huddleston, D. W. Finch, & C. M. Milensky (2005). First Guyana records, natural history, and systematics of the White-winged Seedeater (Dolospingus fringilloides). Ibis 147:334-341.

External links

{{ cite journal | last=de Schauensee | first=Rodolphe Meyer | author-link=Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee | year=1952 | title=A review of the genus Sporophila | journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia | volume=104 | pages=175–181 | jstor=4064459 | ref=none }}

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

Category:Bird genera

Category:Taxa named by Jean Cabanis