Emberizidae

Bunting (bird)

Bunting (bird)

Genus of birds

For New World buntings, see Passerina. For other birds called bunting, see Bunting.

The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.

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Taxonomy

The family Emberizidae was formerly much larger and included the species now placed in the Passerellidae (New World sparrows) and Calcariidae (longspurs and snow buntings). Molecular phylogenetic studies found that the large family consisted of distinct clades that were better treated as separate families.[1][2]

The genus Emberiza is now the only genus placed in the family Emberizidae.[3] The genus was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[4] The type species was subsequently designated as the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).[5] The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting.[6] The origin of the English "bunting" is unknown.[7]

A 2008 genetic study found that three emberizid species that were placed in their own monotypic genera clustered within the Emberiza. These were the crested bunting (Melophus lathami), the slaty bunting (Latouchiornis siemsseni), and the corn bunting (Miliaria calandra).[8] All three species are now included in the genus Emberiza.[3]

A large DNA-based study of the passerines published in 2019 found that the buntings are most closely related to the longspurs and snow buntings in the family Calcariidae.[9]

Ornithologists Edward Dickinson and Leslie Christidis in the fourth edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World chose to split up Emberiza and recognise the genera Fringillaria, Melophus, Granativora, Emberiza, and Schoeniclus.[10] Their example has not been followed by the online version of the Handbook of the Birds of the World[11] nor by Frank Gill and David Donsker in the list of world birds that they maintain on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union.[3] The British Ornithologists' Union has argued that splitting the genus provides little benefit and destabilizes the nomenclature.[12]

Species in the New World genus Passerina include the word "bunting" in their common names, but are now classed in the family Cardinalidae.[13]

The family is divided into four major clades. The species in Clade I are mainly African while those in Clades II to IV are Palearctic:[14]

Emberizidae
Clade I

Cabanis's bunting – Emberiza cabanisi

Golden-breasted bunting – Emberiza flaviventris

Somali bunting – Emberiza poliopleura

Cape bunting – Emberiza capensis

Lark-like bunting – Emberiza impetuani

Socotra bunting – Emberiza socotrana

Gosling's bunting – Emberiza goslingi

Cinnamon-breasted bunting – Emberiza tahapisi

House bunting – Emberiza sahari

Striolated bunting – Emberiza striolata

Clade II

Yellow-throated bunting – Emberiza elegans

Slaty bunting – Emberiza siemsseni

Ochre-rumped bunting – Emberiza yessoensis

Pallas's bunting – Emberiza pallasi

Common reed bunting – Emberiza schoeniclus

Yellow-browed bunting – Emberiza chrysophrys

Tristram's bunting – Emberiza tristrami

Grey bunting – Emberiza variabilis

Yellow-breasted bunting – Emberiza aureola

Chestnut bunting – Emberiza rutila

Little bunting – Emberiza pusilla

Rustic bunting – Emberiza rustica

Black-faced bunting – Emberiza spodocephala

Yellow bunting – Emberiza sulphurata

Clade III

Crested bunting – Emberiza lathami

Red-headed bunting – Emberiza bruniceps

Black-headed bunting – Emberiza melanocephala

Clade IV

Corn bunting – Emberiza calandra

Chestnut-eared bunting – Emberiza fucata

Tibetan bunting – Emberiza koslowi

Jankowski's bunting – Emberiza jankowskii

Meadow bunting – Emberiza cioides

Rock bunting – Emberiza cia

Godlewski's bunting – Emberiza godlewskii

Grey-necked bunting – Emberiza buchanani

Cinereous bunting – Emberiza cineracea

Cretzschmar's bunting – Emberiza caesia

Ortolan bunting – Emberiza hortulana

Cirl bunting – Emberiza cirlus

White-capped bunting – Emberiza stewarti

Yellowhammer – Emberiza citrinella

Pine bunting – Emberiza leucocephalos

The above cladogram is based on a study published in 2021. The phylogenetic relationships of two African species, the brown-rumped bunting (Emberiza affinis) and Vincent's bunting (Emberiza vincenti), were not determined.[14]

List of species

The genus contains 44 species.[3]

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Extinct species have been described:[15]

  • † Long-legged bunting (Emberiza alcoveri) (Late Quaternary)
  • † Emberiza shaamarica (Late Pliocene of Central Asia)[16]
  • † Emberiza polgardiensis (Upper Miocene of Hungary)
  • † Emberiza media (Pliocene of Hungary)
  • † Emberiza parva (Pliocene of Hungary)
  • †Emberiza gaspariskii (Pliocene of Hungary)
  • †Emberiza bartoki (Middle Miocene of Hungary) (Nomen dubium) [16]

Emberiza pannonica from the upper Miocene of Hungary is also referred to this genus, but was later found to be a member of Muscicapidae.[16]

References

  1. [1]
    Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2013). "Going to extremes: contrasting rates of diversification in a recent radiation of New World passerine birds". Systematic Biology. 62 (2): 298–320. doi:10.1093/sysbio/sys094. PMID 23229025.
  2. [2]
    Barker, F.K.; Burns, K.J.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2015). "New insights into New World biogeography: An integrated view from the phylogeny of blackbirds, cardinals, sparrows, tanagers, warblers, and allies". Auk. 132 (2): 333–346. doi:10.1642/AUK-14-110.1.
  3. [3]
    Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2021). "Sylviid babblers, parrotbills, white-eyes". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  4. [4]
    Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 176.
  5. [5]
    Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 5.
  6. [6]
    Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. [7]
    "Bunting". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  8. [8]
    Alström, P.; Olsson, U.; Lei, F.; Wang, H.; Gao, W.; Sundberg, P. (2008). "Phylogeny and classification of the Old World Emberizini (Aves, Passeriformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47 (3): 960–973. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.12.007. PMID 18411062.
  9. [9]
    Oliveros, C.H.; et al. (2019). "Earth history and the passerine superradiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (16): 7916–7925. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.7916O. doi:10.1073/pnas.1813206116. PMC 6475423. PMID 30936315.
  10. [10]
    Dickinson, E.C.; Christidis, L., eds. (2014). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. pp. 353–357. ISBN 978-0-9568611-2-2.
  11. [11]
    del Hoyo, Joseph (ed.). "Taxonomic structure and notes: Emberizidae". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  12. [12]
    Sangster, G.; et al. (2016). "Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: 11th report". Ibis. 158 (1): 206–212. doi:10.1111/ibi.12322.
  13. [13]
    Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Cardinals, grosbeaks and (tanager) allies". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  14. [14]
    Cai, T.; Wu, G.; Sun, L.; Zhang, Y.; Peng, Z.; Guo, Y.; Liu, X.; Pan, T.; Chang, J.; Sun, Z.; Zhang, B. (2021). "Biogeography and diversification of Old World buntings (Aves: Emberizidae): radiation in open habitats". Journal of Avian Biology. 52 (6). doi:10.1111/jav.02672. S2CID 236608560.
  15. [15]
    Rando, J. C.; Lopez, M.; Segui, B. (1999). "A new species of extinct flightless passerine" (PDF). The Condor. 101 (1): 1–13. doi:10.2307/1370440. JSTOR 1370440.
  16. [16]
    Palastrova, E.S; Zelenkov, N. (2020). "A Fossil Bunting Emberiza shaamarica (Aves, Emberizidae) from the Upper Pliocene of Central Asia". Paleontological Journal. 54 (6): 96–104. Bibcode:2020PalJ...54..652P. doi:10.1134/S0031030120060076. S2CID 227133794.

Further reading

Buntings and Sparrows - A Guide to the Buntings and North American Sparrows by Urban Olsson and Jon Curson, illustrated by Clive Byers (1995) ISBN 1-873403-19-4

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Bunting (bird)".
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