Carduelis


 * "Chloris (bird)" redirects here. The name Chloris was also invalidly used for the bird genus Parula.

The genus Carduelis is a large group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. It includes the greenfinches, redpolls, goldfinches, linnets, the twite, and the non-African siskins. No species of this group ranges far into Africa (where they are replaced by the related genus Serinus), and the centers of evolution were probably Eurasia and North America, with a secondary radiation in the Neotropics.

The interrelationship of these species is complex and contentious. It is fairly certain that the crossbills are actually derived from proto-redpoll ancestors quite recently, and it was suggested that they should be placed in the same genus, for which the name Loxia would then have priority. On the other hand, the greenfinches (which are apparently the most distinct group) and the redpolls have themselves been separated in distinct genera which might be the best way to express both the actual evolutionary relationships and the evolutionarily significant distinctiveness of the crossbills. The molecular data indicates that the major lineages split in the Late Miocene (Tortonian, roughly 9-7 mya), but it is unable to suggest any one robust arrangement either of the major groups among each other, among the lineages of Carduelis sensu stricto, or indeed among two separate Serinus lineages (Ryan et al., 2004). As only the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence has hitherto been studied (Arnaiz-Villena et al., 1998), more data is clearly necessary.

Here, the species of Carduelis sensu lato are listed according to current knowledge. The genus Carduelis sensu stricto could conceivably be split further, and in this case only the European Goldfinch and the Citril and Corsican Finch (newly placed in this genus) would remain in Carduelis.

Carduelis sensu stricto
Carduelis group
 * European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis
 * Citril Finch, Carduelis citrinella - formerly Serinus citrinellus
 * Corsican Finch, Carduelis corsicana - formerly Serinus corsicanus

Genus Rhodospiza

 * The Desert Finch, Rhodospiza obsoleta, has recently turned out be a primitive form in this group (Zamora et al., 2006).

Genus Chloris

 * European Greenfinch, Chloris chloris
 * Oriental Greenfinch, Chloris sinica
 * Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, Chloris spinoides
 * Vietnam Greenfinch, Chloris monguilloti
 * Black-headed Greenfinch, Chloris ambigua

Genus Acanthis

 * Common Redpoll, or Mealy Redpoll, Acanthis flammea
 * Lesser Redpoll, Acanthis flammaea cabaret
 * Arctic Redpoll, or Hoary Redpoll, Acanthis hornemanni

Genus Loxia
The taxonomy of Loxia is complicated, and the (sub)genus may consist of as few as three species or possibly dozens. The species given below are only those at least provisionally accepted by most scientists.

Spinus group - American goldfinches and siskins
 * Parrot Crossbill, Loxia pytyopsittacus
 * Scottish Crossbill, Loxia scotica
 * Common Crossbill or Red Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra
 * Two-barred Crossbill or White-winged crossbill, Loxia leucoptera
 * Hispaniolan Crossbill, Loxia megaplaga

Genus Linaria

 * Eurasian Linnet, Linaria cannabina
 * Warsangli Linnet, Linaria johannis
 * Yemen Linnet, Linaria yemenensis
 * Twite, Linaria flavirostris

Genus Astragalinus
American goldfinches
 * American Goldfinch, Astragalinus tristis
 * Lesser Goldfinch, Astragalinus psaltria
 * Lawrence's Goldfinch, Astragalinus lawrencei

Genus Spinus
Northern siskins
 * Eurasian Siskin, or Spruce Siskin, Spinus spinus
 * Pine Siskin, Spinus pinus
 * Black-capped Siskin, Spinus atriceps
 * Antillean Siskin, Spinus dominicensis

Genus Sporagra
Neotropical siskins
 * Black-headed Siskin, Sporagra notata
 * Black-chinned Siskin, Sporagra barbata
 * Thick-billed Siskin, Sporagra crassirostris
 * Yellow-rumped Siskin, Sporagra uropygialis
 * Andean Siskin, Sporagra spinescens
 * Red Siskin, Sporagra cucullata
 * Saffron Siskin, Sporagra siemiradzkii
 * Hooded Siskin, Sporagra magellanica
 * Santa Cruz Siskin, Sporagra (magellanica) santaecrucis
 * Yellow-faced Siskin, Sporagra yarrellii
 * Yellow-bellied Siskin, Sporagra xanthogastra
 * Olivaceous Siskin, Sporagra olivacea
 * Black Siskin, Sporagra atrata

Fossil species

 * Trías Greenfinch, Carduelis triasi - Holocene of La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
 * Slender-billed Greenfinch, Carduelis aurelioi - Holocene of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Possible Carduelis species
These species may be related to various groups or subgenera currently classified as members of Carduelis but have yet to be studied biochemically:
 * Mountain Serin, Serinus estherae - (Relationships obscure).
 * Tibetan Serin, Serinus thibetanus - (Sometimes Tibetan Siskin, Carduelis thibetana is used as in Grimmett et al. 1999).
 * Ankober Serin, Serinus ankoberensis - (Carduelis ankoberensis on the African Bird Club list).
 * the golden-winged grosbeaks, Rhynchostruthus sp. - (Relationship with Carduelis discussed in Fry et al. 2004 and Martins 1987)

Recent taxonomical changes
On December 18, 2009, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in its authority as custodian of the Clement's Checklist, made the following statement: "In accord with NACC, here we split the genus Carduelis into four genera: Carduelis (linnets and twites), Spinus (siskins), Acanthis (redpolls), and Chloris (greenfinches). Similar revisions will need to be made with respect to Carpodacus and Serinus, but we defer making those changes until a later date.". This follows a similar change that was published in the 50th supplement to the AOU Checklist of American Birds, " The subgenera Acanthis and Spinus are elevated to genera, and the genus Chloris is split from the genus Carduelis."