Spindalis

Spindalis
Western spindalis (Spindalis zena)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Phaenicophilidae
Subfamily: Spindalinae
Genus: Spindalis
Jardine & Selby, 1837
Type species
Spindalis bilineatus

Spindalis is a genus consisting of four non-migratory species of bird in the family Phaenicophilidae. The species are mostly endemic to the West Indies; exceptions include populations of western spindalises on Cozumel Island, off the Yucatán Peninsula's east coast, and in extreme southeastern Florida. The species were traditionally considered aberrant members of the tanager family Thraupidae.

Males are characterized by bright plumage while females are duller and have a different coloration. The nests are cup-shaped.

Taxonomy

The genus Spindalis was introduced in 1837 by the naturalists William Jardine and Prideaux John Selby to accommodate a single species, Spindalis bilineatus Jardine & Selby, 1837. As the only originally included nominal species, S. bilineatus is the type species by monotypy. It is now considered a junior synonym of Tanagra nigricephala Jameson, 1835 (currently Spindalis nigricephala), the Jamaican spindalis.

Spindalises were formerly classified in the family Thraupidae, but molecular studies showed that they were not closely related to other members of that family. Consequently, the family Spindalidae was described for the genus Spindalis in 2013. Oliveros et al. (2019) subsequently provided strong support for a monophyletic group comprising Phaenicophilidae, Nesospingidae (the Puerto Rican Tanager) and Spindalidae. In 2025, the American Ornithological Society merged the latter two families into an expanded Phaenicophilidae. This classification was also adopted by AviList in 2026.

The genus contains four species:

Genus Spindalis – Jardine & Selby, 1837 – four species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Hispaniolan spindalis

 Spindalis dominicensis
(Bryant, H, 1867)		 Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
Map of range		 Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  LC 

Jamaican spindalis


Male

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Female

 Spindalis nigricephala
(Jameson, 1835)		 Jamaica
Map of range		 Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  LC 

Puerto Rican spindalis


Male

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Female

 Spindalis portoricensis
(Bryant, H, 1866)		 Puerto Rico
Map of range		 Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  LC 

Western spindalis


Male

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Female

 Spindalis zena
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Five subspecies
  • S. z. zena
  • S. z. townsendi
  • S. z. pretrei
  • S. z. salvini
  • S. z. benedicti
southeastern Florida and the western Caribbean (Cozumel, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands)
Map of range		 Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  LC 

Taxonomy

Historically, the genus consisted of a single polytypic species, Spindalis zena (with the common name of stripe-headed tanager), with eight recognized subspecies—S. z. townsendi and S. z. zena from the Bahamas, S. z. pretrei from Cuba, S. z. salvini from Grand Cayman, S. z. dominicensis from Hispaniola and Gonâve Island, S. z. portoricensis from Puerto Rico, S. z. nigreciphala from Jamaica, and S. z. benedicti from Cozumel Island. In 1997, based primarily on morphological and vocalization differences, three of the subspecies (portoricensis, dominicensis and nigricephala) were elevated to species status. S. zena remained a polytypic species with five recognized subspecies—S. z. pretrei, S. z. salvini, S. z. benedicti, S. z. townsendi, and S. z. zena.

References

  1. ↑ Garrido et al. 1997, p. 587.
  2. ↑ Jardine, William; Selby, Prideaux John (1837). Illustrations of Ornithology. Vol. 4. Edinburgh: W.H. Lizars. Plate 9.
  3. ↑ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 316.
  4. ↑ Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2013). "Going to extremes: contrasting rates of diversification in a recent radiation of New World passerine birds". Systematic Biology. 62 (2): 298–320. doi:10.1093/sysbio/sys094. PMID 23229025.
  5. ↑ Oliveros, Carl H.; Field, Daniel J.; Ksepka, Daniel T.; Barker, F. Keith; Aleixo, Alexandre; Andersen, Michael J.; Alström, Per; Benz, Brett W.; Braun, Edward L.; Braun, Michael J.; Bravo, Gustavo A.; Brumfield, Robb T.; Chesser, R. Terry; Claramunt, Santiago; Cracraft, Joel; Cuervo, Andrés M.; Derryberry, Elizabeth P.; Glenn, Travis C.; Harvey, Michael G.; Hosner, Peter A.; Joseph, Leo; Kimball, Rebecca T.; Mack, Andrew L.; Miskelly, Colin M.; Peterson, A. Townsend; Robbins, Mark B.; Sheldon, Frederick H.; Silveira, Luís Fábio; Smith, Brian Tilston; White, Noor D.; Moyle, Robert G.; Faircloth, Brant C. (16 April 2019). "Earth history and the passerine superradiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (16): 7916–7925. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.7916O. doi:10.1073/pnas.1813206116. PMC 6475423. PMID 30936315.
  6. ↑ Chesser, R. Terry; Billerman, Shawn M.; Burns, Kevin J.; Cicero, Carla; Johnson, Oscar; Mason, Nicholas A.; Rasmussen, Pamela C. (2025). "Sixty-sixth supplement to the American Ornithological Society's Check-list of North American Birds". Ornithology. 142 (3): ukaf015. doi:10.1093/ornithology/ukaf015.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  7. ↑ Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2013). "Going to extremes: contrasting rates of diversification in a recent radiation of New World passerine birds". Systematic Biology. 62 (2): 298–320. doi:10.1093/sysbio/sys094. PMID 23229025.
  8. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Enigmatic Oscines". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
  9. ↑ Garrido et al. 1997, pp. 588–589.

Sources