Sporophila


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 to identify to exact species. Females of at least some of these species have different ultraviolet colours, which can be seen by birds, but not humans. Female-like males apparently also occur, at least in some species.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Spermophila was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The type species was subsequently designated as Temminck's seedeater by George Robert Gray in 1841. As the genus name Spermophila had been introduced by John Richardson in 1825 for a genus of mammals, the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis coined the present name Sporophila as a replacement in 1844. The name combines the Ancient Greek sporos meaning "seed" and philos meaning "-loving".
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.
The genus contains 41 species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Lesson's seedeaterSporophila bouvronidesBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Lined seedeaterSporophila lineolaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Cinnamon-rumped seedeaterSporophila torqueolawestern Mexico
Morelet’s seedeaterSporophila morelletiRio Grande Valley through eastern Mexico and Central America to western Panama
Variable seedeaterSporophila corvinasouthern Mexico through Central America to the Chocó of northwestern South America
Grey seedeaterSporophila intermediaBrazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Wing-barred seedeaterSporophila americananorth-eastern Venezuela, Tobago, the Guianas, Brazil
White-naped seedeaterSporophila fringilloidesBrazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Black-and-white seedeaterSporophila luctuosaBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Double-collared seedeaterSporophila caerulescensArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay
Yellow-bellied seedeaterSporophila nigricollisCosta Rica to Bolivia
Dubois's seedeaterSporophila ardesiacaeast-central Brazil
Thick-billed seed finchSporophila funereasouthern Mexico, through Central America, to the Chocó in Colombia and Ecuador.
Chestnut-bellied seed finchSporophila angolensisTrinidad, Tobago, east Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Bolivia to east Brazil, Paraguay and northeast Argentina
Nicaraguan seed finchSporophila nuttingiCosta Rica, Nicaragua and northwestern Panama.
Great-billed seed finchSporophila maximilianiBrazil
Large-billed seed finchSporophila crassirostrisBrazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Black-billed seed finchSporophila atrirostrisEcuador, Peru and northwestern Bolivia
Slate-coloured seedeaterSporophila schistaceaCentral America, the southwestern Amazon Basin, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and the Guianas.
Temminck's seedeaterSporophila falcirostrisArgentina and southeastern Brazil
Buffy-fronted seedeaterSporophila frontalisnortheastern Argentina and along the southeastern Brazil
Plumbeous seedeaterSporophila plumbeaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Tropeiro seedeaterSporophila beltoniBrazil
Rusty-collared seedeaterSporophila collarisArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
White-throated seedeaterSporophila albogularisBrazil.
White-bellied seedeaterSporophila leucopteraBolivia, Paraguay and eastern Brazil
Parrot-billed seedeaterSporophila peruvianaEcuador and western Peru.
Chestnut-throated seedeaterSporophila telascosouthwestern Colombia to far northern Chile.
Drab seedeaterSporophila simplexEcuador and Peru.
Chestnut-bellied seedeaterSporophila castaneiventrisBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela
Ruddy-breasted seedeaterSporophila minutaBrazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Copper seedeaterSporophila bouvreuilBrazil and Suriname.
Black-and-tawny seedeaterSporophila nigrorufaeastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil.
Tawny-bellied seedeaterSporophila hypoxanthaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Dark-throated seedeaterSporophila ruficollisArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
Pearly-bellied seedeaterSporophila pileataBrazil, Paraguay, northern Uruguay and northeastern Argentina.
Rufous-rumped seedeaterSporophila hypochromaBolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay
Chestnut seedeaterSporophila cinnamomeaArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
Marsh seedeaterSporophila palustrisArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Black-bellied seedeaterSporophila melanogasterBrazil.
Ibera seedeaterSporophila iberaensisArgentina.

Possible extinct species: