Sporophila is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. The genus now includes the six seed finches that were previously placed in the genus Oryzoborus.
They are relatively small with stubby, conical bills adapted for feeding on seeds and alike. Most species are strongly sexually dimorphic, and while "typical" adult males often are distinctive, female and immatures of both sexes can be very difficult (in some species virtually impossible) to identify to exact species.[1] Females of at least some of these species have different ultraviolet colours, which can be seen by birds, but not humans.[2] Female-like (paedomorphic) males apparently also occur, at least in some species.[3]
The genus Spermophila was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827.[4] The type species was subsequently designated as Temminck's seedeater (Sporophila falcirostris) by George Robert Gray in 1841.[5] As the genus name Spermophila had been introduced by John Richardson in 1825 for a genus of mammals,[6] the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis coined the present name Sporophila as a replacement in 1844.[7] [8] The name combines the Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: sporos meaning "seed" and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: philos meaning "-loving".[9]
The genus now includes the six seed finches that were previously placed in Oryzoborus as well as the thick-billed seed finch that was the only species in Dolospingus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that these seven species were embedded in Sporophila.[10]
The genus contains 41 species:[11]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sporophila bouvronides | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila lineola | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila torqueola | western Mexico | ||
| Sporophila morelleti | Rio Grande Valley through eastern Mexico and Central America to western Panama | ||
| Sporophila corvina | southern Mexico through Central America to the Chocó of northwestern South America | ||
| Sporophila intermedia | Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila americana | north-eastern Venezuela, Tobago, the Guianas, Brazil | ||
| Sporophila fringilloides | Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila luctuosa | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila caerulescens | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay | ||
| Sporophila nigricollis | Costa Rica to Bolivia | ||
| Sporophila ardesiaca | east-central Brazil | ||
| Sporophila funerea | southern Mexico, through Central America, to the Chocó in Colombia and Ecuador. | ||
| Sporophila angolensis | Trinidad, Tobago, east Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Bolivia to east Brazil, Paraguay and northeast Argentina | ||
| Sporophila nuttingi | Costa Rica, Nicaragua and northwestern Panama. | ||
| Sporophila maximiliani | Brazil | ||
| Sporophila crassirostris | Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila atrirostris | Ecuador, Peru and northwestern Bolivia | ||
| Sporophila schistacea | Central America, the southwestern Amazon Basin, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and the Guianas. | ||
| Sporophila falcirostris | Argentina and southeastern Brazil | ||
| Sporophila frontalis | northeastern Argentina and along the southeastern Brazil | ||
| Sporophila plumbea | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila beltoni | Brazil | ||
| Sporophila collaris | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. | ||
| Sporophila albogularis | Brazil. | ||
| Sporophila leucoptera | Bolivia, Paraguay and eastern Brazil | ||
| Sporophila peruviana | Ecuador and western Peru. | ||
| Sporophila telasco | southwestern Colombia to far northern Chile. | ||
| Sporophila simplex | Ecuador and Peru. | ||
| Sporophila castaneiventris | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela | ||
| Sporophila minuta | Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. | ||
| Sporophila bouvreuil | Brazil and Suriname. | ||
| Sporophila nigrorufa | eastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil. | ||
| Sporophila hypoxantha | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. | ||
| Sporophila ruficollis | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay | ||
| Sporophila pileata | Brazil, Paraguay, northern Uruguay and northeastern Argentina. | ||
| Sporophila hypochroma | Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay | ||
| Sporophila cinnamomea | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay | ||
| Sporophila palustris | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. | ||
| Sporophila melanogaster | Brazil. | ||
| Sporophila iberaensis | Argentina. | ||
Possible extinct species: