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Sporophila sp.

Sporophila sp.


Family: Thraupidae
Order: Passeriformes
Class: Aves
Phylum / Division: Chordata
Kingdom: Animalia

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Description


Sporophila is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae. The genus now includes the six seed finches that were previously placed in the genus Oryzoborus.

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 (in some species virtually impossible) 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 (paedomorphic) males apparently also occur, at least in some species.

Taxonomy and species list: The genus Spermophila was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827. The type species was subsequently designated as Temminck´s seedeater (Sporophila falcirostris) 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 ´ meaning "seed" and ´ meaning "-loving".

The genus now includes the six seed finches that were previously placed in Oryzoborus as well as the thick-billed seed finch that was the only species in Dolospingus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that these seven species were embedded in Sporophila.

The genus contains 41 species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
120px]]Lesson´s seedeaterSporophila bouvronidesBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px]]Lined seedeaterSporophila lineolaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
120px]]Cinnamon-rumped seedeaterSporophila torqueolawestern Mexico
120px]]Morelet’s seedeaterSporophila morelletiRio Grande Valley through eastern Mexico and Central America to western Panama
120px]]Variable seedeaterSporophila corvinasouthern Mexico through Central America to the Chocó of northwestern South America
120px]]Grey seedeaterSporophila intermediaBrazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px]]Wing-barred seedeaterSporophila americananorth-eastern Venezuela, Tobago, the Guianas, Brazil
White-naped seedeaterSporophila fringilloidesBrazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
120px]]Black-and-white seedeaterSporophila luctuosaBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
120px]]Double-collared seedeaterSporophila caerulescensArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay
120px]]Yellow-bellied seedeaterSporophila nigricollisCosta Rica to Bolivia
120px]]Dubois´s seedeaterSporophila ardesiacaeast-central Brazil
120px]]Thick-billed seed finchSporophila funereasouthern Mexico, through Central America, to the Chocó in Colombia and Ecuador.
120px]]Chestnut-bellied seed finchSporophila angolensisTrinidad, Tobago, east Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Bolivia to east Brazil, Paraguay and northeast Argentina
120px]]Nicaraguan seed finchSporophila nuttingiCosta Rica, Nicaragua and northwestern Panama.
120px]]Great-billed seed finchSporophila maximilianiBrazil
120px]]Large-billed seed finchSporophila crassirostrisBrazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px]]Black-billed seed finchSporophila atrirostrisEcuador, Peru and northwestern Bolivia
120px]]Slate-coloured seedeaterSporophila schistaceaCentral America, the southwestern Amazon Basin, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and the Guianas.
120px]]Temminck´s seedeaterSporophila falcirostrisArgentina and southeastern Brazil
120px]]Buffy-fronted seedeaterSporophila frontalisnortheastern Argentina and along the southeastern Brazil
120px]]Plumbeous seedeaterSporophila plumbeaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
120px]]Tropeiro seedeaterSporophila beltoniBrazil
120px]]Rusty-collared seedeaterSporophila collarisArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
120px]]White-throated seedeaterSporophila albogularisBrazil.
120px]]White-bellied seedeaterSporophila leucopteraBolivia, Paraguay and eastern Brazil
120px]]Parrot-billed seedeaterSporophila peruvianaEcuador and western Peru.
120px]]Chestnut-throated seedeaterSporophila telascosouthwestern Colombia to far northern Chile.
120px]]Drab seedeaterSporophila simplexEcuador and Peru.
120px]]Chestnut-bellied seedeaterSporophila castaneiventrisBolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela
120px]]Ruddy-breasted seedeaterSporophila minutaBrazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
120px]]Copper seedeaterSporophila bouvreuilBrazil and Suriname.
120px]]Black-and-tawny seedeaterSporophila nigrorufaeastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil.
120px]]Tawny-bellied seedeaterSporophila hypoxanthaArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
120px]]Dark-throated seedeaterSporophila ruficollisArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
120px]]Pearly-bellied seedeaterSporophila pileataBrazil, Paraguay, northern Uruguay and northeastern Argentina.
120px]]Rufous-rumped seedeaterSporophila hypochromaBolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay
120px]]Chestnut seedeaterSporophila cinnamomeaArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
120px]]Marsh seedeaterSporophila palustrisArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
120px]]Black-bellied seedeaterSporophila melanogasterBrazil.
120px]]Ibera seedeaterSporophila iberaensisArgentina.


Possible extinct species:
  • Hooded seedeater, Sporophila melanops – possibly extinct (20th century?), a hybrid or a color morph of S. nigricollis

Source: Wikipedia, article Sporophila sp.. Content adapted from Wikipedia, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Accessed on 18/07/2026.





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Page 1
Record IDDateExact timeCountryProvince / departmentPlaceFilmedPhotographedRecorded vocalObservedHeardWounded or deadNumber of individualsUser or BibliographyDetail
200244004/04/2023ArgentinaCorrientesRuta Provincial 40, Mercedes1Naré Berduc
Page 1

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Recommended citation
Please use the following reference when citing this species account.
EcoRegistros. 2026. Sporophila sp. – Species account. Accessed from www.ecoregistros.org on 24/09/2026.