Theyellow canary(Crithagra flaviventris) is a smallpasserinebirdin thetrue finchfamily. It is a resident breeder in much of the western and central regions of southernAfricaand has been introduced toAscensionandSt Helenaislands.
| Yellow canary | |
|---|---|
| |
| In Northern Cape, South Africa | |
Scientific classification
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Genus: | Crithagra |
| Species: | C. flaviventris
|
| Binomial name | |
| Crithagra flaviventris (Gmelin, JF,1789)
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Serinus flaviventris | |
Taxonomy
editThe yellow canary wasformally describedin 1789 by the German naturalistJohann Friedrich Gmelinin his revised and expanded edition ofCarl Linnaeus'sSystema Naturae.He placed it with the crossbills in thegenusLoxiaand coined thebinomial nameLoxia flaviventris.He specified thelocationas theCape of Good Hope.[2][3]The specific epithetflaviventrisis fromLatinflavusmeaning "yellow" andventer,ventrismeaning "belly".[4]Gmelin based his account on the "Le Gros-bec jaune du Cap de Bonne Espérance" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologistMathurin Jacques Brisson.[5]
The yellow canary was formerly placed in thegenusSerinusbut a phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the genus waspolyphyletic.[6]In the reorganisation to createmonophyleticgenera,Serinuswas split and a number of species including the yellow canary were moved to the resurrected genusCrithagrathat had originally been introduced in 1827 by the English ornithologistWilliam Swainson.[7][8]
Foursubspeciesare recognised:[7]
- C. f. damarensis(Roberts,1922) – southwest Angola, Namibia, Botswana and central north South Africa
- C. f. flaviventris(Gmelin, JF,1789) – extreme south Namibia and west, southwest South Africa
- C. f. guillarmodi(Roberts, 1936) – highlands ofLesotho
- C. f. marshalli(Shelley,1902) – southeast Botswana, central, northeast South Africa and lowlands of Lesotho
Description
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The yellow canary is typically 10 cm in length. The adult male colour ranges from almost uniform yellow in the northwest of its range to streaked, olive backed birds in the southeast. The underparts, rump and tail sides are yellow. The female has grey-brown upperparts, black wings with yellow flight feathers, and a palesupercilium.The underparts are white with brown streaking. The juvenile resembles the female, but has heavier streaking.
This species is easily distinguished from theyellow-fronted canaryby its lack of black facial markings, and its bill is less heavy than that of other similar AfricanCrithagraspecies.
Thebrimstone canary,with overlapping range, is a known confusion species.
Distribution and habitat
editItshabitatiskarooand coastal or mountain valley scrub. It builds a compact cup nest in a scrub.
The yellow canary is a common and gregarious seedeater. Its call ischissickorcheree,and the song is a warbledzee-zeree-chereeo.
References
edit- ^BirdLife International (2018)."Crithagra flaviventris".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2018:e.T22720201A131999475.doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22720201A131999475.en.Retrieved12 November2021.
- ^Gmelin, Johann Friedrich(1789).Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis(in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 856.
- ^Dickinson, E.C.;Christidis, L.,eds. (2014).The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World.Vol. 2: Passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 330.ISBN978-0-9568611-2-2.
- ^Jobling, James A. (2010).The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names.London: Christopher Helm. p. 161.ISBN978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^Brisson, Mathurin Jacques(1760).Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés(in French and Latin). Vol. 3. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 227-229 No. 3, Plate 11 Fig. 2.The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
- ^Zuccon, Dario; Prŷs-Jones, Robert; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Ericson, Per G.P. (2012)."The phylogenetic relationships and generic limits of finches (Fringillidae)"(PDF).Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.62(2): 581–596.doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.10.002.PMID22023825.
- ^abGill, Frank;Donsker, David;Rasmussen, Pamela,eds. (July 2023)."Finches, euphonias".IOC World Bird List Version 13.2.International Ornithologists' Union.Retrieved23 August2023.
- ^Swainson, William(1827)."On several forms in ornithology not hitherto defined".Zoological Journal.3:348.
- Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton,SASOL Birds of Southern Africa(Struik 2002)ISBN1-86872-721-1
- Clement, Harris and Davis,Finches and SparrowsbyISBN0-7136-8017-2
External links
edit- Yellow canary-Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.