Fringilla
Male Eurasian chaffinch
Domain:
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Subfamily:
Fringillinae
Leach, 1820
Genus:
Species
The genus Fringilla is a small group of finches from the Old World, which are the only species in the subfamily Fringillinae.
The genus Fringilla was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name FringillaisLatin for "finch".[2] Linnaeus included 30 species in the genus (Fringilla zena was listed twice) and of these the Eurasian chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) is considered as the type species.[3]
The genus now contains eight species:[4]
Image
Scientific name
Common name
Distribution
Fringilla coelebs
Europe, across Asia to Siberia
Fringilla spodiogenys
northwestern Africa
Fringilla moreletti
Azores
Fringilla maderensis
Madeira
Fringilla canariensis
Canary Islands
Fringilla polatzeki
Gran Canaria, Canary Islands
Fringilla teydea
Tenerife, Canary Islands
Fringilla montifringilla
Europe, North Africa, northern India, northern Pakistan, China, and Japan
The Eurasian chaffinch is found primarily in forest habitats, in Europe, North Africa, and western Asia; the blue chaffinches are island endemics; and the brambling breeds in the northern taiga and southern tundraofEurasia.[5]
The eight species are about the same size, 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in length, and are similar in shape.[5] They have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings.[6] They are not as specialised as other finches, eating both insects and seeds. While breeding, they feed their young on insects rather than seeds, unlike other finches.[5]
In 2016, it was proposed that the extremely rare Gran Canaria subspecies F. teydea polatzeki be treated as a separate species, thus creating a fourth species, F. polatzeki.[7][8]
Fringilla
Authority control databases: National 
