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The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 44 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.

TaxonomyEdit

The family Emberizidae was formerly much larger and included the species now placed in the Passerellidae (New World sparrows) and Calcariidae (longspurs and snow buntings). Molecular phylogenetic studies found that the large family consisted of distinct clades that were better treated as separate families.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The genus Emberiza is now the only genus placed in the family Emberizidae.<ref name=ioc/> The genus was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The type species was subsequently designated as the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The genus name Emberiza is from Old German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, a bunting.<ref name =job>Template:Cite book</ref> The origin of the English "bunting" is unknown.<ref name=OED>Template:OED</ref>

A 2008 genetic study found that three emberizid species that were placed in their own monotypic genera clustered within the Emberiza. These were the crested bunting (Melophus lathami), the slaty bunting (Latouchiornis siemsseni), and the corn bunting (Miliaria calandra).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> All three species are now included in the genus Emberiza.<ref name=ioc/>

A large DNA-based study of the passerines published in 2019 found that the buntings are most closely related to the longspurs and snow buntings in the family Calcariidae.<ref name=oliveros>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Ornithologists Edward Dickinson and Leslie Christidis in the fourth edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World chose to split up Emberiza and recognise the genera Fringillaria, Melophus, Granativora, Emberiza, and Schoeniclus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Their example has not been followed by the online version of the Handbook of the Birds of the World<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> nor by Frank Gill and David Donsker in the list of world birds that they maintain on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union.<ref name=ioc/> The British Ornithologists' Union has argued that splitting the genus provides little benefit and destabilizes the nomenclature.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Species in the New World genus Passerina include the word "bunting" in their common names, but are now classed in the family Cardinalidae.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The family is divided into four major clades. The species in Clade I are mainly African while those in Clades II to IV are Palearctic:<ref name=cai>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The cladogram below is based on a study published in 2021. The phylogenetic relationships of two African species, the brown-rumped bunting (Emberiza affinis) and Vincent's bunting (Emberiza vincenti), were not determined.<ref name=cai/>

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List of speciesEdit

The genus contains 44 species.<ref name=ioc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
File:A Rare Crested Bunting (50027361348).jpg Crested bunting Emberiza lathami Southeast Asia.
Slaty bunting Emberiza siemsseni China.
File:Corn Bunting. Miliaria calandra (32291261152).jpg Corn bunting Emberiza calandra Western Europe and North Africa across to northwestern China.
File:Goldammer Emberiza citrinella.jpg Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella southeast England and most of Europe east to the northwestern corner of Russia and western Ukraine.
File:Pine Bunting (Emberiza leucocephalos) - Цагааншанаат хөмрөг (15617685422).jpg Pine bunting Emberiza leucocephalos Asia
File:Rock Bunting (Cochem).jpg Rock bunting Emberiza cia northwest Africa, southern Europe east to central Asia, and the Himalayas
File:Godlewski's Bunting (Emberiza godlewskii) (16804118611) (cropped).jpg Godlewski's bunting Emberiza godlewskii China, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Russia.
File:Meadow bunting(Emberiza cioides)ホオジロ.jpg Meadow bunting Emberiza cioides southern Siberia, northern and eastern China, eastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan.
File:White-capped Bunting (Emberiza stewarti) (47269056742).jpg White-capped bunting Emberiza stewarti Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Jankowski's bunting Emberiza jankowskii Russian Far East, Manchuria and far northeastern Korea
File:Grey necked Bunting at Rajkot.jpg Grey-necked bunting Emberiza buchanani Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains in Central Asia
File:090508-cinereous-bunting-at-Petrified-Forest.jpg Cinereous bunting Emberiza cineracea southern Turkey and southern Iran
File:Ortolan bunting in Sierra de Guara, Aragon, Spain.jpg Ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana European countries and western Asia
File:Emberiza caesia.jpg Cretzschmar's bunting Emberiza caesia Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and the Levant.
File:Cirl bunting cropped.jpg Cirl bunting Emberiza cirlus southern Europe, on the Mediterranean islands and in north Africa
File:Striolated Bunting (Emberiza striolata) (24769786507).jpg Striolated bunting Emberiza striolata Chad, east through south-west Asia to north-western India, Africa
File:11)faune d'El kantara(Algerie).jpg House bunting Emberiza sahari northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad.
File:Lark-like bunting (Emberiza impetuani impetuani) 2.jpg Lark-like bunting Emberiza impetuani Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
File:Emberiza tahapisi by Derek Keats.jpg Cinnamon-breasted bunting Emberiza tahapisi mainland sub-Saharan Africa
File:Gosling's Bunting, Poli, Cameroon (5891148053).jpg Gosling's bunting Emberiza goslingi Mauritania and Senegal to south-western Sudan and north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Socotra bunting Emberiza socotrana Yemen
File:Cape Bunting, Emberiza capensis at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa.jpg Cape bunting Emberiza capensis southern Africa from south-western Angola, eastern Zambia, Zimbabwe and southern Tanzania to the Cape.
File:Tristram's Bunting 9849 (cropped).jpg Tristram's bunting Emberiza tristrami eastern Manchuria and the Russian Far East and winters in central and southern China.
File:Chestnut-eared Bunting - Nainital, Uttarakhand, India (14979940218).jpg Chestnut-eared bunting Emberiza fucata the Himalayas locally across China to south-eastern Siberia, Korea and northern Japan
File:Zwergammer.jpg Little bunting Emberiza pusilla north-east of Europe and northern Eurosiberia to the Russian Far East and northern India, southern China and the northern parts of south-east Asia.
File:Yellow-browed bunting (Emberiza chrysophrys) Eocheong Island Korea 2012.jpg Yellow-browed bunting Emberiza chrysophrys eastern Siberia, China
File:Kashiradaka-01.jpg Rustic bunting Emberiza rustica south-east Asia, Japan, Korea, and eastern China.
File:Emberiza elegans male s3.JPG Yellow-throated bunting Emberiza elegans China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Russia, and Taiwan.
File:Yellow-breasted bunting in Nepal 02 -Cropped.jpg Yellow-breasted bunting Emberiza aureola Finland to Bering Sea migrating to Indochina
File:Bunting, Somali Golden-breasted (cropped).jpg Somali bunting Emberiza poliopleura Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
File:Emberiza flaviventris -Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa-8.jpg Golden-breasted bunting Emberiza flaviventris Africa south of the Sahara
File:Brown-rumped Bunting - Gambia (32496573672).jpg Brown-rumped bunting Emberiza affinis Senegal to Sudan and Uganda
File:Emberiza cabanisi cognominata, Menongue, Birding Weto, a (cropped).jpg Cabanis's bunting Emberiza cabanisi sub-Saharan Africa
File:Emberiza rutila - Rötelammer, Weibchen 172845812.jpg Chestnut bunting Emberiza rutila Siberia, northern Mongolia and north-eastern China.
File:Emberiza koslowi 367800246.jpg Tibetan bunting Emberiza koslowi Tibet
File:28-090504-black-headed-bunting-at-first-layby.jpg Black-headed bunting Emberiza melanocephala Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, South Korea and Malaysia
File:Red-headed bunting (Emberiza bruniceps) Photograph by Shantanu Kuveskar.jpg Red-headed bunting Emberiza bruniceps Asia-Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia; Russian Federation (European Russia, Central Asian Russia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
File:Yellow Bunting.jpg Yellow bunting Emberiza sulphurata Japan
File:Black-faced bunting(Emberiza spodocephala)アオジ.jpg Black-faced bunting Emberiza spodocephala southern Siberia across to northern China.
File:Emberiza spodocephala.jpg Masked bunting Emberiza personata Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Japan.
File:Emberiza variabilis (male s2).JPG Grey bunting Emberiza variabilis Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and northern Japan
File:Emberiza pallasi (10) (cropped).jpg Pallas's reed bunting Emberiza pallasi northeast European Russia, north Kamchatka
File:A Japanese reed bunting (cropped).jpg Ochre-rumped bunting Emberiza yessoensis eastern Mongolia, northeast China and Ussuriland
File:Common reed bunting (emberiza schoeniclus) m.jpg Common reed bunting Emberiza schoeniclus Europe

Extinct species have been described:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Emberiza pannonica from the upper Miocene of Hungary is also referred to this genus, but was later found to be a member of Muscicapidae.<ref name="researchgate.net"/>

ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

Buntings and Sparrows – A Guide to the Buntings and North American Sparrows by Urban Olsson and Jon Curson, illustrated by Clive Byers (1995) Template:ISBN

External linksEdit

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