Melopyrrha

Melopyrrha is a genus of passerine birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is made up of four extant species endemic to the Greater Antilles, along with 1 possibly extinct species from the island of Saint Kitts in the Lesser Antilles.

Melopyrrha
Cuban bullfinch (Melopyrrha nigra)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Melopyrrha
Bonaparte, 1853
Type species
Loxia nigra
Linnaeus, 1858

Taxonomy

The genus Melopyrrha was introduced in 1853 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[1] The type species was later specified by George Robert Gray as the Cuban bullfinch.[2] The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with the genus Pyrrhula introduced by Mathurin Jacques Brisson for the bullfinches.[3] This genus was formerly monospecific containing only the Cuban bullfinch.[4] A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that the genus Loxigilla was polyphyletic and that the Greater Antillean bullfinch, Puerto Rican bullfinch and Cuban bullfinch formed a clade.[5] The three species were therefore placed together in Melopyrrha.[6] In 2021, the possibly extinct St. Kitts bullfinch (M. grandis) was split from M. portoricensis as a distinct species.[7]

Although these species were traditionally placed with the buntings and New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae,[4] molecular genetic studies have shown that they are members of the tanager family Thraupidae and belong to the subfamily Coerebinae that also contains Darwin's finches.[5]

Species

The five species in the genus are:[6]

ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Puerto Rican bullfinchMelopyrrha portoricensisPuerto Rico.
St. Kitts bullfinchMelopyrrha grandisSaint Kitts.
Greater Antillean bullfinchMelopyrrha violaceaBahamas, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as well as surrounding islands), Jamaica, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Grand Cayman bullfinchMelopyrrha tayloriGrand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
Cuban bullfinchMelopyrrha nigraCuba.

References
  1. Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1853). "Notes sur les collections rapportées en 1853, par M. A. Delattre, de son voyage en Californie et dans le Nicaragua: Troisième communication - Passereux Conirostres". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 37: 913–925 [924].
  2. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 82.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 250. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 151.
  5. 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.
  6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2020). "Tanagers and allies". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  7. "Species Updates – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2021-07-29.
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