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Melanospiza is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae.
Melanospiza | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Thraupidae |
Genus: | Melanospiza Ridgway, 1897 |
Type species | |
Loxigilla richardsoni Cory, 1886 |
The genus Melanospiza was introduced in 1897 by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway with the Saint Lucia black finch as the type species.[1][2] The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" and spiza meaning "finch".[3] Although traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae,[2] molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the genus is a member of the tanager family Thraupidae and belongs to the subfamily Coerebinae which also contains Darwin's finches.[4]
The genus contains the following two species:[5]
Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | Melanospiza richardsoni | Saint Lucia black finch | Saint Lucia |
![]() | Melanospiza bicolor | Black-faced grassquit | West Indies, northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela |
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