Poephila | |
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Long-tailed finch, Poephila acuticauda | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Estrildidae |
Genus: | Poephila Gould, 1842[1] |
Type species | |
Amadina acuticauda[2] Gould, 1840
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Species | |
See text |
Poephila is an Australian genus of estrildid finches.
The adults have pinkish underparts, buff or brown upperparts, a black tail and lower belly, and white rumps uppertail coverts and undertail coverts. Males and females closely resemble each other, although the male is a little larger.
These are birds of dry open grassland, occurring from the north-west to the eastern coast of Australia. They glean seed from the ground or seed-heads of grasses, occasionally supplementing their diet with insects.
Taxonomy
[edit]The first description was presented to the Linnean Society by John Gould. and published in 1842. He assigned the species Poephila acuticauda as the type, a description he had published several years before as Amadina acuticauda, and gave a description for Poephila personata.[1]
Species
[edit]The genus is recognised as containing the following species:
Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
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Masked finch | Poephila personata | northern Australia, from the Kimberley, across the Top End, the Gulf country and the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, as far east as Chillagoe |
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Long-tailed finch | Poephila acuticauda | Australia, from the Kimberley region to the Gulf of Carpentaria. |
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Black-throated finch | Poephila cincta | north-east Australia from Cape York Peninsula to central Queensland |
References
[edit]- ^ a b Gould, J. (1842). "On New Species of Birds from Australia". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 10 (1842). Academic Press, [etc.]: 17–21.
- ^ "Estrildidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- Clement, Harris and Davis, Finches and Sparrows ISBN 0-7136-8017-2