Snowfinch

Snowfinch
	Rose-bellied snowfinch , Leucosticte arctoa
Systematics
Order :	Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination :	Songbirds (passeri)
Family :	Finches (Fringillidae)
Subfamily :	Goldfinches (Carduelinae)
Tribe :	Pyrrhulini
Genre :	Snowfinch
Scientific name
	Leucosticte
	Swainson , 1832

The mountain finch ( Leucosticte ) constitute a genus within the family of finches (Fringillidae). The six species of the genus are mountain specialists , two of which are also in the Arctic tundra occur, and their distribution over parts of East Asia and North America extends. Up until the 1990s only three species were placed in this genus; the rose-bellied snowfinch ( Leucosticte arctoa ) was considered a Holarctic species with occurrences in Asia and North America. As a result of genetic studies, however, the three North American subspecies were separated from the Asian species as separate species. In 2015, the Sillem pinnacle , which was described in a Dutch museum in 1992 due to two bellows and rediscovered in Qinghai (China) in 2012 , was placed in the genus of the carmine fin .

description

Snowfinches are mostly inconspicuous and sometimes quite dark in color, sparrow-like finches and with body lengths between 14 and 19 cm, about the same size or larger than a chaffinch. Some show a fairly pronounced sexual dimorphism , some a seasonal dimorphism. As with the related genera Pyrrhula , Pinicola and Bucanetes , two throat pouches develop during the breeding season, which are connected to the pharynx by long lateral slits and in which food can be stored. The throat appears swollen when it is filled. In this way, the sometimes quite extensive foraging flights to feed the young birds become more efficient and the adult birds can move about up to 4 km in search of food in the barren high mountain habitats.

Systematics

Apparently the snow bullfinches are closely related to the bullfinches proper ( Pyrrhula ) and the hooked bullfinch ( Pinicola enucleator ), from which they split off at the end of the Middle Miocene .

Types and distribution

Rose-bellied snowfinch ( Leucosticte arctoa ) - Central Asia ( Altai ) to Eastern Siberia, Japan
Black-tailed snowfinch ( Leucosticte atrata ) - Western USA
Brown-headed snowfinch ( Leucosticte australis ) - Colorado as well as northern Wyoming and northern New Mexico
Mats snow bullfinch ( Leucosticte brandti ) - Central Asia from North Pakistan to Northwest China and Mongolia
Forest mountain finch ( Leucosticte nemoricola ) - Northern Pakistan , the Himalayas , and northwestern China
Gray-headed snowfinch ( Leucosticte tephrocotis ) - western North America from the Commander Islands and Alaska to northern California

The sillem snow bull , placed in the genus Leucosticte in 1992 , has belonged to the genus Carpodacus since 2015 . Its closest relative is the Roborowskigimpel ( Carpodacus roborowskii ).

literature

P. Clement, A. Harris, J. Davis: Finches and Sparrows , Helm Identification Guides, London 1993/1999, ISBN 0-7136-5203-9
Arnaiz-Villena, A .; Moscoso, J .; Ruiz-del-Valle, V .; Gonzalez, J .; Reguera, R .; Ferri, A .; Wink, M .; Serrano-Vela, JI (2008). Mitochondrial DNA Phylogenetic Definition of a Group of 'Arid-Zone' Carduelini Finches (PDF; 1.0 MB). The Open Ornithology Journal , 1 : 1-7. doi : 10.2174 / 1874453200801010001

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Richard E. Johnson: Black Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte atrata) in A. Poole (ed.): The Birds of North America Online , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca 2002
↑ Rediscovery of Sillem's Mountain Finch , Oriental Bird Images, accessed July 5, 2013
↑ ^a ^b Sangster, G., Roselaar, CS, Irestedt, M. & Ericson, PGP (in press) Sillem's Mountain Finch Leucosticte sillemi is a valid species of rosefinch (Fringillidae). Ibis.
↑ Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , KM Bauer: Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas . Volume 14 / II, Passeriformes (5th part): Fringillidae - Parulidae, AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1993/2001 (first edition 1997), ISBN 3-923527-00-4 , p. 1138
^ Marten, Jill A. & Johnson, Ned K. (1986): Genetic relationships of North American cardueline finches. The Condor 88 (4): 409-420. PDF .
↑ Arnaiz-Villena, A .; Guillén, J .; Ruiz-del-Valle, V .; Lowy, E .; Zamora, J .; Varela, P .; Stefani, D. & Allende, LM (2001). " Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches " (PDF). Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 58 : 1159-1166.

Web links

Commons : Schneegimpel - Collection of images, videos and audio files

[bna1-1] A ^b Richard E. Johnson: Black Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte atrata) in A. Poole (ed.): The Birds of North America Online , Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca 2002

[2] Rediscovery of Sillem's Mountain Finch , Oriental Bird Images, accessed July 5, 2013

[Sangster-3] Sangster, G., Roselaar, CS, Irestedt, M. & Ericson, PGP (in press) Sillem's Mountain Finch Leucosticte sillemi is a valid species of rosefinch (Fringillidae). Ibis.

[4] Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , KM Bauer: Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas . Volume 14 / II, Passeriformes (5th part): Fringillidae - Parulidae, AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1993/2001 (first edition 1997), ISBN 3-923527-00-4 , p. 1138

[5] Marten, Jill A. & Johnson, Ned K. (1986): Genetic relationships of North American cardueline finches. The Condor 88 (4): 409-420. PDF .

[6] Arnaiz-Villena, A .; Guillén, J .; Ruiz-del-Valle, V .; Lowy, E .; Zamora, J .; Varela, P .; Stefani, D. & Allende, LM (2001). " Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches " (PDF). Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 58 : 1159-1166.