<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In 2017 the European Goldfinch <italic>(Carduelis carduelis)</italic> was voted to be the “bird of the year” in Hungary. This is a partially migrant species; most of the European populations are resident, however, its breeding range extends to East from the Sweden-Poland-Moldova axis towards the Yenisei with some of the populations wintering in Kazakhstan and South of Turkey. The European Goldfinch is classified within the Carduelinae subfamily including approximately a hundred species. Several taxonomic changes were introduced in this group during the last fifteen years, however, we still do not understand much of their origin and evolutionary history. My aim in this paper is to collect existing knowledge on the phylogeny and evolution of the Carduelinae finches and their allies, with a particular focus on the European Goldfinch and its closest relatives. Furthermore, here I point out uncertainties in different phylogenetic sources of finches, which careful consideration can be useful in similar evolutionary studies. Finally, I summarise some vision for future research.</p></abstract>

In 2017 the European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) was voted to be the “bird of the year” in Hungary. This is a partially migrant species; most of the European populations are resident, however, its breeding range extends to East from the Sweden-Poland-Moldova axis towards the Yenisei with some of the populations wintering in Kazakhstan and South of Turkey. The European Goldfinch is classified within the Carduelinae subfamily including approximately a hundred species. Several taxonomic changes were introduced in this group during the last fifteen years, however, we still do not understand much of their origin and evolutionary history. My aim in this paper is to collect existing knowledge on the phylogeny and evolution of the Carduelinae finches and their allies, with a particular focus on the European Goldfinch and its closest relatives. Furthermore, here I point out uncertainties in different phylogenetic sources of finches, which careful consideration can be useful in similar evolutionary studies. Finally, I summarise some vision for future research.

Phylogeny and evolution of the European Goldfinch <italic>(Carduelis carduelis)</italic> and its allies – a review of the “bird of the year”

Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology

Ornis Hungarica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Phylogeny and evolution of the European Goldfinch  and its allies – a review of the “bird of the year”

In 2017 the European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) was voted to be the “bird of the year” in Hungary. This is a partially migrant species; most of the...

Phylogeny and evolution of the European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and its allies – a review of the “bird of the year”

Published Online: Feb 14, 2018

Page range: 1 - 10

Received: Sep 23, 2017

Accepted: Nov 06, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/orhu-2017-0011

Keywords
Carduelinae, finches, Fringillidae, evolution, phylogeny, taxonomy

© 2017 Jenő Nagy, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Phylogeny and evolution of the European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and its allies – a review of the “bird of the year”

Published Online: Feb 14, 2018

Page range: 1 - 10

Received: Sep 23, 2017

Accepted: Nov 06, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/orhu-2017-0011

KeywordsCarduelinae, finches, Fringillidae, evolution, phylogeny, taxonomy

© 2017 Jenő Nagy, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Carduelinae, finches, Fringillidae, evolution, phylogeny, taxonomy