Corsican finch explained

The Corsican finch (Carduelis corsicana), also known as the Corsican citril finch or Mediterranean citril finch, is a bird in the true finch family, Fringillidae.

Distribution

It is endemic to the Mediterranean islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Elba, Capraia and Gorgona.

Description

It has dark-streaked brown upperparts and brighter yellow underparts than the citril finch does.

Taxonomy

The first formal description of the Corsican finch was by the German zoologist Alexander Koenig in 1899 under the binomial name Citrinella corsicana.^[1] It was formerly regarded a subspecies of the citril finch, but it differs in morphology and vocalizations (Förschler & Kalko, 2007) as well as mtDNA sequence (Sangster, 2000, contra Pasquet & Thibault, 1997, Förschler et al. 2009) and they are now considered distinct species (Sangster et al., 2002, Förschler et al. 2009).

References

• Förschler . M.I. . Kalko . E.K.V. . 2007 . Geographical differentiation, acoustic adaptation and species boundaries in mainland citril finches and insular Corsican finches, superspecies Carduelis [''citrinella''] ]. Journal of Biogeography . 34 . 9. 1591–1600 . 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01722.x . 28037228 .
• Förschler . M.I. . Senar . J.C. . Perret . P. . Björklund . M. . 2009 . The species status of the Corsican Finch Carduelis corsicana assessed by three genetic markers with different rates of evolution . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 52 . 1. 234–240 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2009.02.014 . 19249374.
  • Pasquet . E. . Thibault . J.-C. . 1997 . Genetic differences among mainland and insular forms of the Citril Finch Serinus citrinella . . 139 . 4. 679–684 . 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1997.tb04691.x.
• Sangster . G . 2000 . Genetic distance as a test of species boundaries in the Citril Finch Serinus citrinella: a critique and taxonomic reinterpretation . . 142 . 3. 487–490 . 10.1111/j.1474-919x.2000.tb04447.x.
• Sangster . George . Knox . Alan G. . Helbig . Andreas J. . Parkin . David T. . 2002 . Taxonomic recommendations for European birds . . 144 . 1. 153–159 . 10.1046/j.0019-1019.2001.00026.x .
• Zamora J, Moscoso J, Ruiz-del-Valle V, Lowy E, Serrano-Vela JI, et al. (2006) Conjoint mitochondrial phylogenetic trees for canaries (Serinus spp.) and goldfinches (Carduelis spp.) show several specific polytomies. Ardeola 53: 1–17.

External links

• Audio recordings from Xeno-canto

Notes and References

1. Koenig . Alexander . Alexander Koenig . 1899 . Eine neu Vogelart von der Insel Corsica . de . Ornithologische Monatsberichte . 7 . 7 . 120 .