Melanospiza

Melanospiza is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae.

Melanospiza
Black-faced grassquit (Melanospiza bicolor)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thraupidae
Genus:	Melanospiza Ridgway, 1897
Type species
Loxigilla richardsoni Cory, 1886

Taxonomy and species list

The genus Melanospiza was introduced in 1897 by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway with the Saint Lucia black finch as the type species.[1][2] The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" and spiza meaning "finch".[3] Although traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae,[2] molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the genus is a member of the tanager family Thraupidae and belongs to the subfamily Coerebinae which also contains Darwin's finches.[4]

The genus contains the following two species:[5]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Melanospiza richardsoni	Saint Lucia black finch	Saint Lucia
	Melanospiza bicolor	Black-faced grassquit	West Indies, northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela

References

1. Ridgway, Robert (1897). "Birds of the Galapagos Archipelago". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 19: 459-670 [466 note].
2. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Volume 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 160.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Burns, K.J.; Shultz, A.J.; Title, P.O.; Mason, N.A.; Barker, F.K.; Klicka, J.; Lanyon, S.M.; Lovette, I.J. (2014). "Phylogenetics and diversification of tanagers (Passeriformes: Thraupidae), the largest radiation of Neotropical songbirds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 75: 41–77. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.02.006.
5. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2020). "Tanagers and allies". World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 July 2020.