Linaria (bird)

Linaria
Male common linnet (Linaria cannabina) in breeding plumage
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Subfamily: Carduelinae
Genus: Linaria
Bechstein, 1802
Type species
Fringilla cannabina[1]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Linaria is a genus of small passerine birds in the finch family (Fringillidae) that contains the twite and the linnets. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax".[2]

The species were formerly included in the genus Carduelis. A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012 found that the genus was polyphyletic.[3] It was therefore split into monophyletic genera and the twite and the linnets moved to the resurrected genus Linaria.[4] The name had originally been introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein.[5]

  1. ^ "Fringillidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ 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. PMID 22023825.
  4. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Finches, euphonias". World Bird List Version 5.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  5. ^ Bechstein, Johann Matthäus (1803). Ornithologisches Taschenbuch von und für Deutschland, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands für Liebhaber dieses Theils der Naturgeschichte (in German). Leipzig: Carl Friedrich Enoch Richter. p. 121.