Carduelinae

The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily.[1] Cardueline finches are specialised seed eaters, and unlike most passerine birds, they feed their young mostly on seeds, which are regurgitated.[2] Besides this, they differ from the other finches in some minor details of their skull.[2] They are adept at opening seeds and clinging to stems, unlike other granivorous birds, such as sparrows and buntings, which feed mostly on fallen seeds.[3] Some members of this subfamily are further specialised to feed on a particular type of seed, such as cones, in the case of crossbills.[2] Carduelines forage in flocks throughout the year, rather than keeping territories, and males defend their females rather than a territory or nest.[4]

Carduelinae
male red crossbills
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Vigors, 1825
Genera

49, see text

The name Carduelina[e] for the subfamily was introduced by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1825.[5][6] Carduelinae is derived from the Latin name carduelis and the binomial name Carduelis carduelis for a goldfinch, one of the species in the subfamily.[7]

List of genera

The Carduelinae subfamily contains 186 species divided into 49 genera. Of the 186 species, 15 are now extinct; these are the Bonin grosbeak and 14 Hawaiian honeycreepers.[8]

References

  1. Groth, 2001, pp. 552–553
  2. Newton, 1973, p. 31
  3. Groth, 2001, p. 557
  4. Groth, 2001, p. 558
  5. Bock, Walter J. (1994). History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History Issue 222. p. 264. hdl:2246/830.
  6. Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1825). "Sketches in ornithology". Zoological Journal. 2 (7): 398.
  7. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 July 2015.

Literature cited

  • Groth, Jeffrey G. (2001). "Finches and Allies". In Elphick, Chris; Dunning, John B. Jr.; Sibley, David Allen (eds.). The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 552–560. ISBN 978-1-4000-4386-6.
  • Newton, Ian (1973). Finches. The New Naturalist Library 55. New York: Taplinger. ISBN 0-8008-2720-1.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.