The buntings are a group of Old Worldpasserine birds forming the genusEmberiza, the only genus in the familyEmberizidae. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.
Taxonomy
The family Emberizidae was formerly much larger and included the species now placed in the Passerellidae and Calcariidae. Molecular phylogenetic studies found that the large family consisted of distinct clades that were better treated as separate families. The genus Emberiza is now the only genus placed in the family Emberizidae. The genus was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The type species was subsequently designated as the yellowhammer. The genus nameEmberiza is from Old GermanEmbritz, a bunting. The origin of English "bunting" is unknown. A 2008 genetic study found that three emberizid species that were placed in their own monotypic genera clustered within the Emberiza. These were the crested bunting, the slaty bunting, and the corn bunting. All three species are now included in the genus Emberiza. A large DNA-based study of the passerines published in 2019 found that the buntings are most closely related to the longspurs and snow buntings in the family Calcariidae. Ornithologists Edward Dickinson and Leslie Christidis in the fourth edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the Worldchose to split up Emberiza and recognise the genera Fringillaria, Melophus, Granativora, Emberiza, and Schoeniclus. Their example has not been followed by the online version of the Handbook of the Birds of the World nor by Frank Gill and David Donsker in the list of world birds that they maintain on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union. The British Ornithologists' Union has argued that splitting the genus provides little benefit and destabilizes the nomenclature. Species in the New World genus Passerina include the word "bunting" in their common names, but are now classed in the family Cardinalidae.
