Sporophila


Sporophila is a genus of Neotropical birds in the family Thraupidae. The seed finches are sometimes also included in this genus.
The genus Spermophila was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827. The type species was subsequently designated as Temminck's seedeater by George Robert Gray in 1841. As the genus name Spermophila had been introduced by John Richardson in 1825 for a genus of mammals, the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis coined the present name Sporophila as a replacement in 1844. The name combines the Ancient Greek sporos meaning "seed" and philos meaning "-loving".
They are relatively small with stubby, conical bills adapted for feeding on seeds and alike. Most species are strongly sexually dimorphic, and while "typical" adult males often are distinctive, female and immatures of both sexes can be very difficult to identify to exact species. Females of at least some of these species have different ultraviolet colours, which can be seen by birds, but not humans. Female-like males apparently also occur, at least in some species.

Species

The genus contains 34 species: