Grosbeak is a

form taxon Form classification is the classification of organisms based on their morphology (biology), morphology, which does not necessarily reflect their biological relationships. Form classification, generally restricted to palaeontology, reflects uncer ...

containing various

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of seed-eating

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

birds with large

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...

s. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

assemblage of distantly related

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 5,00 ...

s. Some are cardueline finches in the family Fringillidae, while others are cardinals in the family

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

; one is a member of the weaver family

Ploceidae Ploceidae is a family of small passerine birds, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches, or bishops. These names come from the nests of intricately woven vegetation created by birds in this family. In most recent classificat ...

. The word "grosbeak", first applied in the late 1670s, is a partial translation of the French ''grosbec'', where ''gros'' means "large" and ''bec'' means "beak". The following is a list of grosbeak species, arranged in groups of closely related

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. These genera are more closely related to smaller-billed birds than to other grosbeaks. Exceptions are the three genera of "typical grosbeak finches", which form a group of closest living relatives and might thus be considered the "true" grosbeaks.

Grosbeak finches

The finch

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

( Fringillidae) contains 13 living species named "grosbeak", which are all part of the large

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Carduelinae:

Typical grosbeak finches

* The two

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

species in the genus '' Hesperiphona'' (formerly in ''Coccothraustes''): ** Evening grosbeak, ''H. vespertina'' ** Hooded grosbeak, ''H. abeillei'' * The two species in the

East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Eophona'': ** Japanese grosbeak, ''E. personata'' ** Chinese grosbeak or yellow-billed grosbeak, ''E. migratoria'' * The four species in the

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

'' Mycerobas'': **

Black-and-yellow grosbeak The black-and-yellow grosbeak (''Mycerobas icterioides'') is a species of finch native to the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, primarily the lower and middle Himalayas. It is in the family Fringillidae. The species ranges across Afgha ...

, ''M. icterioides'' ** Collared grosbeak, ''M. affinis'' ** Spot-winged grosbeak, ''M. melanozanthos'' ** White-winged grosbeak, ''M. carnipes''

Grosbeak bullfinch

* The pine grosbeak, ''Pinicola enucleator'', a

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

pine forest species

Grosbeak goldfinches

* The three golden-winged grosbeaks in the genus '' Rhynchostruthus'', found in

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

, mountains of south-west

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and on the island of

Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...

and often considered a single species: ** Somali golden-winged grosbeak, ''R. louisae'' ** Arabian golden-winged grosbeak, ''R. percivali'' Exthakona

** Socotra golden-winged grosbeak, ''R. socotranus''

Genus ''Crithagra''

*Two species in the genus '' Crithagra'' are named "grosbeak-canaries" and one is called a grosbeak: ** The São Tomé grosbeak, ''Crithagra concolor'' (formerly ''Neospiza concolor''), a

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

restricted-range endemic found only in forests on the island of São Tomé off the

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n coast, believed extinct until rediscovered in 1991 ** The northern grosbeak-canary or Abyssinian grosbeak-canary, ''Crithagra donaldsoni'' ** The Southern grosbeak-canary or Kenya grosbeak-canary, ''Crithagra buchanani''

Extinct species

* In addition, there are two extinct Fringillidae "grosbeaks": ** The Bonin grosbeak (''Chaunoproctus ferreorostris''), found only on the Ogasawara Islands, which was last recorded in 1832. Its relationships are obscure, but it was probably another member of the cardueline finches. ** The Kona grosbeak or grosbeak finch (''Chloridops kona''), last recorded in 1896. It was a Hawaiian honeycreeper, subfamily Drepanidinae.

Cardinal-grosbeaks

The cardinal family (

) of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

contains the following 17 "grosbeaks":

Typical cardinal-grosbeaks

* The six species in the

'' Pheucticus'', ranging from the United States to Bolivia and northern Chile ** Mexican yellow grosbeak, ''P. chrysopeplus'' ** Southern yellow grosbeak, ''P. chrysogaster'' ** Black-thighed grosbeak, ''P. tibialis'', a restricted-range endemic found only in the highlands of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

** Black-backed grosbeak, ''P. aureoventris'' ** Rose-breasted grosbeak, ''P. ludovicianus'' ** Black-headed grosbeak, ''P. melanocephalus''

Masked cardinal-grosbeaks

* The red-and-black grosbeak, ''Periporphyrus erythromelas'' of northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

* The two species in the

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

'' Caryothraustes'': ** Black-faced grosbeak, ''C. poliogaster'' ** Yellow-green grosbeak, ''C. canadensis'' * The crimson-collared grosbeak, ''Rhodothraupis celaeno'', a restricted-range endemic found only in eastern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Blue cardinal-grosbeaks

* Two species in the

genus '' Cyanocompsa'' which also contains the blue bunting (''C. parellina''): ** Ultramarine grosbeak, ''C. brissonii'' ** Blue-black grosbeak, ''C. cyanoides'' * The glaucous-blue grosbeak (''Cyanoloxia glaucocaerulea'') of eastern

* One species (sometimes separated in ''Guiraca'') in the genus ''

Passerina The genus ''Passerina'' is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not closely related to the buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings. The males show vivid colors i ...

'', which also contains the North American buntings: ** Blue grosbeak, ''Passerina caerulea''

Grosbeak tanagers

Three additional species of "grosbeaks" have long been placed in the Cardinalidae, but actually seem to be closer to the tanager family (

Thraupidae The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12 ...

): * Two species in the

'' Saltator'', which also contains the saltators: ** Slate-coloured grosbeak, ''S. grossus'' ** Black-throated grosbeak, ''S. fuliginosus'' * The yellow-shouldered grosbeak, ''Parkerthraustes humeralis'' of

Thick-billed weaver

Finally, the weaver family (

) contains a species called the thick-billed weaver (''Amblyospiza albifrons'').

References

Cited texts

* {{Wikisource1911Enc, Grosbeak * Bird common names