The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Rhynchostruthus'' is a small group of

finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

es in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Fringillinae The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of finches from the Old World, which are the only species in the subfamily Fringillinae. The genus name ''Fringilla'' is Latin for "finch". Taxonomy The genus ''Fringilla'' was introduced in 1758 by the ...

. Commonly known as golden-winged grosbeaks, they are attractive, chunky, medium-sized, robust-billed

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

s restricted to the southern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

n and northern

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

n regions. These elusive birds are typically found between 1,060 and 2,800 metres ASL in forested

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

s and areas of scrub. The fruits of junipers, acacias and

spurge ''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...

s appear to form the bulk of their diet.

Description

These birds have slight sexual dichromatism. Males are grey-brown overall with a black bill, dark mask, white cheeks, and large, bright yellow patches on the wings and tail. The extent of the dark head-pattern and white cheek-patches varies considerably between

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

. The females are similar to the males though somewhat duller, and the juveniles are rather streaky and lack the adults' distinctive head pattern.

Systematics

The large bill suggests a relationship with the Asian

grosbeak Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of di ...

s - e.g. ''

Mycerobas The ''Mycerobas'' grosbeaks are a genus of finch in the family Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often h ...

'' - but its song and calls are reminiscent of

European goldfinch The European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch (''Carduelis carduelis'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family that is native to Europe, North Africa and western and central Asia. It has been introduced to other areas, including Austral ...

''Carduelis carduelis'', European greenfinch ''C. chloris'', and

Yemen linnet The Yemen linnet (''Linaria yemenensis'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is found in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. The Yemen linnet was formerly placed in the genus '' ...

''C. yemenensis''. Also it has been observed performing a greenfinch-like slow-winged display flight which suggests its true affinities may lie within the genus ''

Carduelis The genus ''Carduelis'' is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. The genus ''Carduelis'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by tautonomy based on Carl Linnaeus's specific epithet for the Europe ...

''. Altogether, ''Rhynchostruthus'' seems to belong to a group of

Carduelinae The cardueline finches are a subfamily, Carduelinae, one of three subfamilies of the finch family Fringillidae, the others being the Fringillinae and the Euphoniinae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are now included in this subfamily. Except for the ...

which includes such birds as ''

'', the oriole finch (''Linurgus olivaceus''), and the canaries, many of which have large amounts of brilliant yellow plumage. But the exact placement of the golden-winged grosbeaks is not very well resolved. Molecular genetic studies have shown that ''Rhynchostruthus'' and '' Rhodospiza'' form a distinct clade but are not closely related to any other of the birds commonly referred to as "

s". The genus used to contain a single species, ''Rhynchostruthus socotranus''. But more recently this is often split into three: * Socotra golden-winged grosbeak, ''Rhynchostruthus socotranus'' * Arabian golden-winged grosbeak, ''Rhynchostruthus percivali'' * Somali golden-winged grosbeak, ''Rhynchostruthus louisae''

References

External links

Socotra Grosbeak photographs
Retrieved 2008-MAY-27. * Finches Grosbeaks Taxa named by Philip Sclater {{Fringillidae-stub