Phrygilus Explained

Phrygilus is a genus of mainly Andean seed-eating tanagers commonly known as sierra finches. Phrygilos means finch in Ancient Greek. Traditionally classified in the bunting and American sparrow family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown them to belong in the Thraupidae.^[1]

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Phrygilus was introduced in 1844 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis with the grey-hooded sierra finch as the type species.^{[2] [3]} The name is from the Ancient Greek phrugilos, an unidentified bird mentionedby Aristophanes.^{[4] [5]}

The genus formerly included additional species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus was highly polyphyletic and in the resulting reorganization members of the genus were moved to Geospizopsis, Rhopospina, Porphyrospiza and Idiopsar.^{[6] [7]} The genus now contains four species.^[5]

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
		Phrygilus atriceps	Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru.
		Phrygilus punensis	Bolivia and Peru
		Phrygilus gayi	Argentina and Chile
		Phrygilus patagonicus	Argentina and Chile.

Notes and References

1. See Burns et al. (2003) & Klicka et al. (2007)
2. von Tschudi . Johann Jakob . Johann Jakob von Tschudi . Cabanis . Jean . Jean Cabanis . 1844 . Avium conspectus quae in Republica Peruana reperiuntur et pleraeque observatae vel collectae sunt in itinere . Latin . Archiv für Naturgeschichte . 10 . 1 . 262–317 [289–290].
3. Book: Paynter . Raymond A. Jr . 1970 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 13 . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 103 .
4. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 305 .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2020 . Tanagers and allies . IOC World Bird List Version 10.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 6 November 2020 .
6. Burns . K.J. . Shultz . A.J. . Title . P.O. . Mason . N.A. . Barker . F.K. . Klicka . J. . Lanyon . S.M. . Lovette . I.J. . 2014 . Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 75. 41–77 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006 . 24583021 . 2014MolPE..75...41B .
7. Burns . K.J. . Unitt . P. . Mason . N.A. . 2016 . A genus-level classification of the family Thraupidae (Class Aves: Order Passeriformes) . Zootaxa . 4088 . 3 . 329–354 . 10.11646/zootaxa.4088.3.2 . 27394344 .