Rhodopechys
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The crimson-winged finch (''Rhodopechys sanguineus'') is a pale-colored thickset
finch The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...
with a heavy, dull yellowish bill. It is the only species placed in the
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 ...
''Rhodopechys''. It is found in North Africa and from
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
to northeast
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. The crimson-winged finch has sometimes been split into two species, the African crimson-winged finch and the Asian crimson-winged finch.


Taxnomy

The crimson-winged finch was
formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...
in 1838 by the English ornithologist
John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
based on a specimen collected at
Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...
in eastern Turkey. He placed the species with the finches in the
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 ...
''
Fringilla The genus ''Fringilla'' is a small group of eight species of finches from the Old World. It is the only genus in the subfamily Fringillinae. Taxonomy The genus ''Fringilla'' was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 1 ...
'' and coined the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Fringilla sanguinea''. The specific epithet is
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
meaning "bloody", from ''sanguis'', ''sanguinis'' meaning "blood". The crimson-winged finch is now the only species placed in the
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 ...
''Rhodopechys'' that was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist
Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...
with the crimson-winged finch 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 genus name is from
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
ῥοδοπηχυς/''rhodopēkhus'', ῥοδοπηχυος/''rhodopēkhuos'' meaning "rosy-armed", from ῥοδον/''rhodon'' meaning "rose" and πηχυς/''pēkhus'', πηχεως/''pēkheōs'' meaning "forear". Two
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are recognised: * ''R. s. sanguineus'' (
Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, an ...
, 1838) – Turkey to west China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan * ''R. s. alienus'' Whitaker, 1897 – Morocco, Algeria The crimson-winged finch has sometimes been split into two species with the subspecies ''R. s. sanguineus'' known as the Asian crimson-winged finch and the subspecies ''R. s. alienus'' known as the African crimson-winged finch.


Differences between African and Asian subspecies

There are several differences between Asian and African subspecies: * African birds have a rosy-tinged grey-white central chin and throat, with a narrow brown breast-band below it, whereas this whole area is solidly tawny-brown on Asian birds. * The brown breast and flank markings on Asian birds are more extensive than on African birds. * African birds have less black on the crown than Asian birds (on males it often tends to be restricted to the forecrown). Male birds show the following additional differences: * Asian birds have extensive pink in their uppertail-coverts, which is lacking in African birds (although the latter can show a vinous wash here in fresh plumage). * Asian birds often have black spotting on their breast-sides; African birds always lack this. * Asian birds can have distinct black markings on their mantle, but these are much less distinct on African birds. * Asian birds have on average more distinct black markings on their ear-coverts than African birds. * Asian birds typically have more extensive red in their face, often in the fore-supercilium (African birds can show red here but it is not the norm).


Ecology

This species lives on rocky mountainsides, often at high elevation. It can be found in barren landscapes with little vegetation, and sometimes nests in rock crevices. It feeds on seeds, and during the winter descends in flocks to agricultural fields to find food. The female lays and incubates 4 or 5 blue, lightly speckled eggs.


Status

This species has a vast range and a large population, meeting neither range nor population size criteria for threat. While the population trend is unknown, it's not declining rapidly enough to approach vulnerability. Therefore, it's classified as "
Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
" on the
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
. The population size in Europe is estimated at 107,000-411,000 mature individuals, comprising about 20% of the global range. This suggests a preliminary global population of 535,000-2,060,000 mature individuals, though further assessment is needed. This species is also a symbol of the country of
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q559977 Crimson-winged finch Birds of Azerbaijan Birds of West Asia Birds of Central Asia Birds of Eurasia Crimson-winged finch National symbols of Lebanon