''Paroaria'', the red-headed cardinals or cardinal-tanagers (as they are not close to the

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 ...

), are a

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 ...

tanager 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 ...

s. They were until recently placed in the

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 ...

Emberizidae The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus ''Emberiza'', the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 44 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills. Taxonomy The family Emberizid ...

. Five or six

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), ...

are placed here. They are all very similar-looking birds, with heads resembling that of a

northern cardinal The northern cardinal (''Cardinalis cardinalis''), also commonly known as the common cardinal, red cardinal, or simply cardinal, is a bird in the genus ''Cardinalis''. It can be found in southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States fro ...

(''Cardinalis cardinalis'', a true member of the Cardinalidae), though they are somewhat more slender, in particular the rather tanager-like bill. Their coloration is also typical; they are quite unlike any Cardinalidae, though they bear a passing resemblance to adult male rose-breasted grosbeak (''Pheucticus ludovicianus''). Like these, they are white below and dark above (grey to blackish in the case of ''Paroaria''). But unlike ''P. ludovicianus'', they have no conspicuous pattern except for the head, which has large amounts of bright red; it may be predominantly so or patterned red-and-black. Almost all ''Paroaria'' have at least a short crest. The bill is yellowish below or in its entirety.

Taxonomy and species list

The genus ''Paroaria'' was introduced in 1832 by the French naturalist

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

with the red-crested cardinal as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The name is from ''Tiéguacú paroára'', a name for a small yellow, red and grey bird in the extinct

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

. The genus contains six species:

References

Bird genera Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte {{Thraupidae-stub