Linaria (bird)
Genus of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linaria is a genus of small passerine birds in the finch family (Fringillidae) that contains the twite and the linnets. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax".[2]
.JPG)
| Linaria | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male common linnet (Linaria cannabina) in breeding plumage | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Subfamily: | Carduelinae |
| Genus: | Linaria Bechstein, 1802 |
| Type species | |
| Fringilla cannabina[1] Linnaeus, 1758 | |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
The species were formerly included in the genus Carduelis. A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012 found that the genus was polyphyletic.[3] It was therefore split into monophyletic genera and the twite and the linnets moved to the resurrected genus Linaria.[4] The name had originally been introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein.[5]
Species
The genus contains four species:[4]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Linaria flavirostris | Twite | northern Europe and across central Asia |
 | Linaria cannabina | Common linnet | Europe, western Asia and north Africa |
 | Linaria yemenensis | Yemen linnet | Saudi Arabia and Yemen |
| Linaria johannis | Warsangli linnet | Somalia | |