Tiaris
Encyclopedia
Tiaris is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...

s in the tanager
Tanager
The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has an American distribution.There were traditionally about 240 species of tanagers, but the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux...

 family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 (Thraupidae), containing the bulk of the grassquit
Grassquit
Grassquits are small, tropical birds currently placed in the tanager bird family Thraupidae, although they had earlier been thought to be of the family Emberizidae...

s
. In late 20th century sources in particular, it was very often allied to the American sparrow
American sparrow
American sparrows are a group of mainly New World passerine birds, forming part of the family Emberizidae. American sparrows are seed-eating birds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns....

s and placed in the Emberizidae
Emberizidae
The Emberizidae are a large family of passerine birds. They are seed-eating birds with a distinctively shaped bill.In Europe, most species are called buntings. In North America, most of the species in this family are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the sparrows, the...

 family.

It contains the following species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

:
  • Cuban Grassquit
    Cuban Grassquit
    The Cuban Grassquit is a small bird formerly placed with the Emberizidae. It is now recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwin's finches...

    , Tiaris canorus
  • Sooty Grassquit
    Sooty Grassquit
    The Sooty Grassquit is a small bird formerly placed with the Emberizidae. It is now recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwins finches....

    , Tiaris fuliginosus
  • Dull-coloured Grassquit
    Dull-coloured Grassquit
    The Dull-coloured Grassquit is a small bird formerly placed with the Emberizidae. It is now recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwin's finches....

    , Tiaris obscurus
  • Yellow-faced Grassquit
    Yellow-faced Grassquit
    The Yellow-faced Grassquit is a passerine bird from the Central American tropics and surrounding regions. It was formerly alled with the American sparrows and placed in the Emberizidae; actually, however, it is one of the tholospizan "finches" which are specialized tanagers...

    , Tiaris olivaceus
  • Black-faced Grassquit
    Black-faced Grassquit
    The Black-faced Grassquit, Tiaris bicolor, is a small bird formerly placed with the Emberizidae. It is now recognized as a tanager closely related to Darwins finches...

    , Tiaris bicolor


However, these might not be monophyletic relatives, and warrant the splitting off of some species or merging this genus in another. Phylogenetic studies have hitherto failed to place this genus firmly with respect to a large number of species in the group called "Tholospiza", which typically build nests covered by a dome of material. This group consists of radiations
Evolutionary radiation
An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomic diversity or morphological disparity, due to adaptive change or the opening of ecospace. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid or gradual; where they are rapid, and driven by a single lineage's adaptation to their environment,...

 out of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

, into the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 and into the Pacific. The latter group of these American sparrow-like tanagers are the famous Darwin's finches
Darwin's finches
Darwin's finches are a group of 14 or 15 species of passerine birds. It is still not clear which bird family they belong to, but they are not related to the true finches. They were first collected by Charles Darwin on the Galápagos Islands during the second voyage of the Beagle...

 (including the Cocos Island Finch
Cocos Island Finch
The Cocos Island Finch or Cocos Finch, Pinaroloxias inornata, is the only one of Darwin's finches not native to the Galápagos Islands, and the only member of the genus Pinaroloxias. Sometimes classified in the family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown it to belong in the tanager family...

, Pinaroloxias inornata). The former group includes the Caribbean bullfinches (Loxigilla), the St Lucia Black Finch
St Lucia Black Finch
The St Lucia Black Finch is a species of bird in the Thraupidae family. Sometimes classified in the bunting and American sparrow family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown it to belong in the tanager family...

 (Melanospiza richardsoni), the Yellow-shouldered Grassquit
Yellow-shouldered Grassquit
The Yellow-shouldered Grassquit is a species of bird in the Thraupidae family. Sometimes classified in the bunting and American sparrow family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown it to belong in the tanager family. It is monotypic within the genus Loxipasser. It is endemic to Jamaica...

 (Loxipasser anoxanthus) – though not the Blue-black Grassquit
Blue-black Grassquit
The Blue-black Grassquit is a small bird in the tanager family, Thraupidae. It was previously classified in the bunting and American sparrow family, Emberizidae. It breeds from southern Mexico through Central America, and South America as far as northern Chile, Argentina and Paraguay, and on...

 (Volatinia jacarina) –, and probably other Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 genera too (e.g. Orangequit
Orangequit
The Orangequit is a species of bird in the Thraupidae family. It is the only member of the genus Euneornis. It is endemic to Jamaica. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.-References:* BirdLife International 2004....

, Euneornis campestris and the puzzling Bananaquit
Bananaquit
The Bananaquit is a species of passerine bird of uncertain relation. It is tentatively placed in the tanager family, but classified as incertae sedis by other authorities such as the American Ornithologists' Union. Its classification is debated, and it is often placed in its own family: Coerebidae...

, Coereba flaveola).
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