Piranga

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Piranga
Piranga olivacea1.jpg
Scarlet tanager
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cardinalidae
Genus: Piranga
Vieillot, 1808
Type species
Fringilla rubra
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See species list

Piranga is a genus of birds long placed in the tanager family, but now considered members of the cardinal family, Cardinalidae. The genus name Piranga is from Tupi word tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird.

Similar in shape and habits to the true tanagers, their coloration betrays their actual relationships. They are essentially red, orange, or yellow all over, except the tail and wings, and in some species also the back. Such extensive lipochrome coloration (except on the belly) is very rare in true tanagers, but is widespread among the Cardinalidae.

These songbirds are found high in tree canopies, and are not very gregarious in their breeding areas. Piranga species pick insects from leaves, or sometimes in flight. They also take some fruit. Several species are migratory, breeding in North America and wintering in the tropics.

Taxonomy and species list[]

The genus Piranga was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1808 with the summer tanager (Piranga rubra) as the type species.[1][2] The genus name Piranga is from the Tupi Tijepiranga, the name for an unknown small bird.[3]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Flame-colored Tanager 2.jpg P. bidentata Flame-colored tanager Mexico, and throughout Central America to northern Panama
Red-headed Tanager (Piranga erythrocephala) (8079395236).jpg P. erythrocephala Red-headed tanager Mexico
Piranga hepatica.jpg P. flava Hepatic tanager Southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, and locally in southern California and Colorado) to northern Argentina
Piranga leucoptera - Waraira Repano National Park, Venezuela -male-8 (cropped).jpg P. leucoptera White-winged tanager Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela
Western Tanager piranga ludoviciana; body visible, male.jpg P. ludoviciana Western tanager Southeastern Alaska south to northern Baja California, Mexico. Western tanagers extend east to western Texas and north through central New Mexico, central Colorado, extreme northwest Nebraska, and areas of western South Dakota to southern Northwest Territories, Canada
Scarlet Tanager (7467759484).jpg P. olivacea Scarlet tanager Eastern United States. Migrate to Central and northern South America
Piranga roseogularis 64951842.jpg P. roseogularis Rose-throated tanager Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico
Summer Tanager - Texas - USA H8O9934 (23250423155).jpg P. rubra Summer tanager Southern United States, extending as far north as Iowa. These birds migrate to Mexico, Central America and northern South America
Red-hooded Tanager.jpg P. rubriceps Red-hooded tanager Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru

References[]

  1. ^ Vieillot, Louis Jean Pierre (1807). Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale : contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figurées pour la première fois (in French). Volume 1. Paris: Chez Desray. p. iv. |volume= has extra text (help) For a discussion of the publication date see: Dickinson, E.C.; Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011). Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers. Northampton, UK: Aves Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-9568611-1-5.
  2. ^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1970). Check-List of Birds of the World. Volume 13. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 301. |volume= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
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