Fringillaria

Fringillaria
Cape bunting (Fringillaria capensis)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Fringillaria
Swainson, 1837
Type species
Emberiza capensis
Linnaeus, 1766

Fringillaria is a genus of Old World passerine birds in the family Emberizidae, mainly found in dry savanna regions of Africa, with two species extending into southwest Asia and one recently colonising the extreme south of Europe. The eleven species now placed in the genus were formerly placed in the genus Emberiza. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills that inhabit open and half-open habitats, including deserts, stony drylands, shrubland and savanna, and have largely brown body plumage with distinct head patterns in black, grey, or white; some also have yellow underparts.

Taxonomy

The genus Fringillaria was introduced in 1837 by the English zoologist William Swainson. He listed several species in the new genus but did not specify a type species. The type was designated in 1840 by English zoologist George Gray as Emberiza capensis Linnaeus, 1766, the Cape bunting. The genus name is a variant of the genus Fringilla that was introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The word fringilla is Latin meaning "finch".

The genus was formerly treated as a synonym of the genus Emberiza that had been introduced by Linnaeus in 1858, but based on a molecular genetic study published in 2021, the genus was resurrected to contain eleven species.

The following cladogram shows the relationships between the species. It is based on the 2021 study by Tianlong Cai and collaborators. The phylogenetic position of the brown-rumped bunting (F. affinis) was not determined.

Fringillaria

Cabanis's bunting – Fringillaria cabanisi

Golden-breasted bunting – Fringillaria flaviventris

Somali bunting – Fringillaria poliopleura

Cape bunting – Fringillaria capensis

Lark-like bunting – Fringillariaa impetuani

Socotra bunting – Fringillaria socotrana

Gosling's bunting – Fringillaria goslingi

Cinnamon-breasted bunting – Fringillaria tahapisi

House bunting – Fringillaria sahari

Striolated bunting – Fringillaria striolata

The genus contains eleven species:

ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Cabanis's buntingFringillaria cabanisiGuinea and far southern Mali eastward to far southern Sudan and northwestern Uganda; Angola, southern Zimbabwe, and central Mozambique
Golden-breasted buntingFringillaria flaviventrisSahel zone and disjunctly eastern and southern Africa southern Mauritania to northern Eritrea and far northern Ethiopia; southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and far southern South Sudan through eastern Africa, southward through South Africa (except southwestern)
Somali buntingFringillaria poliopleurasoutheastern South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia southward to northeastern Tanzania
Brown-rumped buntingFringillaria affinisSahel zone and northeastern Africa, from Senegal, far southern Mauritania to northern Guinea and eastward to western and southern Ethiopia, northern Uganda, and western Kenya
Cape buntingFringillaria capensissouthern Africa southwestern Angola eastward to western Mozambique, southward through southern South Africa
Lark-like buntingFringillaria impetuanicentral Angola to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and western and central South Africa
Socotra buntingFringillaria socotranaSocotra
House buntingFringillaria sahariMorocco eastward to northwestern Libya, and southward patchily to Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad, recent colonist since 2023 in southern Spain; post-breeding dispersal northward and southward
Striolated buntingFringillaria striolatanortheastern Africa to southwestern Asia patchily in northeastern Chad and eastern Egypt to northeastern Somalia and southward to northwestern Kenya; Sinai Peninsula, Israel, and western Jordan, Arabian Peninsula, southern Iran, northeastern Afghanistan to far western India; winters to west-central India
Gosling's buntingFringillaria goslingiMauritania and Senegambia eastward to eastern Sudan and northeastern South Sudan, and southward to Cameroon and Central African Republic; partial migrant with rains, and nomadic wandering
Cinnamon-breasted buntingFringillaria tahapisiGabon eastward to northeastern Somalia and Socotra, and southern Arabian Peninsula southward through South Africa

References

  1. ↑ Hoyo, Josep del (2020). All the Birds of the World. Barcelona: Lynx edicions. pp. 771, 772. ISBN 978-84-16728-37-4.
  2. ↑ Swainson, William (1837). On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. Vol. 2. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor. pp. 289–290.
  3. ↑ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 47.
  4. 1 2 Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 5.
  5. ↑ Jobling, James A. "Fringillaria". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
  6. ↑ Jobling, James A. "fringilla". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
  7. 1 2 Cai, T.; Wu, G.; Sun, L.; Zhang, Y.; Peng, Z.; Guo, Y.; Liu, X.; Pan, T.; Chang, J.; Sun, Z.; Zhang, B. (2021). "Biogeography and diversification of Old World buntings (Aves: Emberizidae): radiation in open habitats". Journal of Avian Biology. 52 (6) jav.02672. doi:10.1111/jav.02672. S2CID 236608560.
  8. 1 2 AviList Core Team (20 October 2026). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2026". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2026. Retrieved 22 October 2026.