Serinus is a genus of small birds in the finch family Fringillidae found in West Asia, Europe and Africa. The birds usually have some yellow in their plumage.
Taxonomy The genus Serinus was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch to accommodate a single species, Serinus hortulanus Koch. This is a junior synonym of Fringilus serinus Linnaeus, the European serin and becomes the type species by monotypy. The genus name is Neo-Latin for "canary-yellow".
Many species were at one time assigned to the genus but it became clear from phylogenetic studies of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences that the genus was polyphyletic. This was confirmed by Dario Zuccon and coworkers in a comprehensive study of the finch family published in 2012. The authors suggested splitting the genus into two monophyletic groups, a proposal that was accepted by the International Ornithologists' Union. The genus Serinus was restricted to the European serin and seven other species while a larger clade from Africa and Arabia was assigned to the resurrected genus Crithagra.
The genus contains eight species: Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Serinus pusillus Red-fronted serin Alpide belt from Anatolia to western Himalayas Serinus serinus European serin southern and central Europe and North Africa Serinus syriacus Syrian serin Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Saudi Arabia Serinus canaria Atlantic canary the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira Serinus canicollis Cape canary southern Africa Serinus flavivertex Yellow-crowned canary eastern Africa and Angola Serinus nigriceps Ethiopian siskin Ethiopia Serinus alario Black-headed canary Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa
References
External links Serin videos, photos and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection