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The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a world-wide distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. Many birds in other families are also commonly called "finches", including some species in the very similar-looking waxbills or estrildid finches (family Estrildidae) of the Old World tropics and Australia; several groups of the bunting and American sparrow family (Emberizidae); and the Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands, now considered members of the tanager family (Thraupidae).〔Newton (1973), Clement ''et al.'' (1993)〕 ==Systematics and taxonomy== The scientific name Fringillidae, comes from the Latin word ''fringilla'' for the common chaffinch (''Fringilla coelebs''), a member of the family which is common in Europe. The name was coined by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1820.〔 The name of the author is not specified in the document.〕 The Fringillidae family is divided into three subfamilies, the Fringillinae containing a single genus with the chaffinches, the Carduelinae containing 183 species divided into 49 genera, and the Euphoniinae containing the ''Euphonia'' and the ''Chlorophonia''.〔 The taxonomy of the finch family, in particular the cardueline finches, has a long and complicated history. The study of the relationship between the taxa has been confounded by the recurrence of similar morphologies due to the convergence of species occupying similar niches.〔 In 1968 the America ornithologist Raymond Andrew Paynter Jnr. wrote:
Beginning in around 1990 a series of phylogenetic studies based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences resulted in substantial revisions being made to the taxonomy. Several groups of birds that had previously been assigned to other families were found to be related to the finches. The Neotropical ''Euphonia'' and the ''Chlorophonia'' were formerly placed in the tanager family Thraupidae due to their similar appearance but analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed that both genera were more closely related to the finches. They are now placed in a separate subfamily Euphoniinae within the Fringillidae. The Hawaiian honeycreepers were at one time placed in their own family, Drepanididae but were found to be closely related to the ''Carpodacus'' rosefinches and are now placed within the Carduelinae subfamily. The three largest genera, ''Carpodacus'', ''Carduelis'' and ''Serinus'' were found to be polyphyletic.〔 Each was split into monophyletic genera. The American rosefinches were moved from ''Carpodacus'' to ''Haemorhous''. ''Carduelis'' was split by moving the greenfinches to ''Chloris'' and a large clade into ''Spinus'' leaving just three species in the original genus. Thirty seven species were moved from ''Serinus'' to ''Crithagra'' leaving eight species in the original genus.〔 Although Przewalski's "rosefinch" (''Urocynchramus pylzowi'') has ten primary flight feathers rather than the nine primaries of other finches, it was sometimes classified in the Carduelinae. It is now assigned to a distinct family, Urocynchramidae, monotypic as to genus and species, and with no particularly close relatives among the Passeroidea.〔 Fossil remains of true finches are rare, and those that are known can mostly be assigned to extant genera at least. Like the other Passeroidea families, the true finches seem to be of roughly Middle Miocene origin, around 20-10 million years ago (Ma). An unidentifable finch fossil from the Messinian age, around 12 to 7.3 million years ago (Ma) during the Late Miocene subepoch, has been found at Polgárdi in Hungary.〔Hír ''et al.'' (2001), Mlíkovský (2002)〕 |2= }} }} }} |2= |2= |2= }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Finch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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