Emberiza

For New World buntings, see Passerina. For other birds called bunting, see Bunting.

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.

Emberiza
Cirl bunting (Emberiza cirlus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Superfamily:	Emberizoidea
Family:	Emberizidae Vigors, 1831
Genus:	Emberiza Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Emberiza citrinella
Species
44, see text
Synonyms
Onychospina Bonaparte, 1853 Onychospiza Rey, 1872 (incorrect subsequent spelling)

Taxonomy

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.^[1][2]

The genus Emberiza is now the only genus placed in the family Emberizidae.^[3] The genus was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.^[4] The type species was subsequently designated as the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).^[5] The genus name Emberiza is from Old German Embritz, a bunting.^[6] The origin of the English "bunting" is unknown.^[7]

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).^[8] All three species are now included in the genus Emberiza.^[3]

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.^[9]

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.^[10] Their example has not been followed by the online version of the Handbook of the Birds of the World^[11] nor by Frank Gill and David Donsker in the list of world birds that they maintain on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union.^[3] The British Ornithologists' Union has argued that splitting the genus provides little benefit and destabilizes the nomenclature.^[12]

Species in the New World genus Passerina include the word "bunting" in their common names, but are now classed in the family Cardinalidae.^[13]

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:^[14]

Emberizidae

Clade I Cabanis's bunting – Emberiza cabanisi Golden-breasted bunting – Emberiza flaviventris Somali bunting – Emberiza poliopleura Cape bunting – Emberiza capensis Lark-like bunting – Emberiza impetuani Socotra bunting – Emberiza socotrana Gosling's bunting – Emberiza goslingi Cinnamon-breasted bunting – Emberiza tahapisi House bunting – Emberiza sahari Striolated bunting – Emberiza striolata Clade II Yellow-throated bunting – Emberiza elegans Slaty bunting – Emberiza siemsseni Ochre-rumped bunting – Emberiza yessoensis Pallas's reed bunting – Emberiza pallasi Common reed bunting – Emberiza schoeniclus Yellow-browed bunting – Emberiza chrysophrys Tristram's bunting – Emberiza tristrami Grey bunting – Emberiza variabilis Yellow-breasted bunting – Emberiza aureola Chestnut bunting – Emberiza rutila Little bunting – Emberiza pusilla Rustic bunting – Emberiza rustica Black-faced bunting – Emberiza spodocephala Yellow bunting – Emberiza sulphurata Clade III Crested bunting – Emberiza lathami Red-headed bunting – Emberiza bruniceps Black-headed bunting – Emberiza melanocephala Clade IV Corn bunting – Emberiza calandra Chestnut-eared bunting – Emberiza fucata Tibetan bunting – Emberiza koslowi Jankowski's bunting – Emberiza jankowskii Meadow bunting – Emberiza cioides Rock bunting – Emberiza cia Godlewski's bunting – Emberiza godlewskii Grey-necked bunting – Emberiza buchanani Cinereous bunting – Emberiza cineracea Cretzschmar's bunting – Emberiza caesia Ortolan bunting – Emberiza hortulana Cirl bunting – Emberiza cirlus White-capped bunting – Emberiza stewarti Yellowhammer – Emberiza citrinella Pine bunting – Emberiza leucocephalos

The above cladogram 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.^[14]

List of species

The genus contains 44 species.^[3]

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Crested bunting	Emberiza lathami	Southeast Asia.
	Slaty bunting	Emberiza siemsseni	China.
	Corn bunting	Emberiza calandra	Western Europe and North Africa across to northwestern China.
	Yellowhammer	Emberiza citrinella	southeast England and most of Europe east to the northwestern corner of Russia and western Ukraine.
	Pine bunting	Emberiza leucocephalos	Asia
	Rock bunting	Emberiza cia	northwest Africa, southern Europe east to central Asia, and the Himalayas
	Godlewski's bunting	Emberiza godlewskii	China, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Russia.
	Meadow bunting	Emberiza cioides	southern Siberia, northern and eastern China, eastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan.
	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
	Grey-necked bunting	Emberiza buchanani	Caspian Sea to the Altai Mountains in Central Asia
	Cinereous bunting	Emberiza cineracea	southern Turkey and southern Iran
	Ortolan bunting	Emberiza hortulana	European countries and western Asia
	Cretzschmar's bunting	Emberiza caesia	Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and the Levant.
	Cirl bunting	Emberiza cirlus	southern Europe, on the Mediterranean islands and in north Africa
	Striolated bunting	Emberiza striolata	Chad, east through south-west Asia to north-western India, Africa
	House bunting	Emberiza sahari	northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad.
	Lark-like bunting	Emberiza impetuani	Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
	Cinnamon-breasted bunting	Emberiza tahapisi	mainland sub-Saharan Africa
	Gosling's bunting	Emberiza goslingi	Mauritania and Senegal to south-western Sudan and north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
	Socotra bunting	Emberiza socotrana	Yemen
	Cape bunting	Emberiza capensis	southern Africa from south-western Angola, eastern Zambia, Zimbabwe and southern Tanzania to the Cape.
	Tristram's bunting	Emberiza tristrami	eastern Manchuria and the Russian Far East and winters in central and southern China.
	Chestnut-eared bunting	Emberiza fucata	the Himalayas locally across China to south-eastern Siberia, Korea and northern Japan
	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.
	Yellow-browed bunting	Emberiza chrysophrys	eastern Siberia, China
	Rustic bunting	Emberiza rustica	south-east Asia, Japan, Korea, and eastern China.
	Yellow-throated bunting	Emberiza elegans	China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Russia, and Taiwan.
	Yellow-breasted bunting	Emberiza aureola	Finland to Bering Sea migrating to Indochina
	Somali bunting	Emberiza poliopleura	Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda
	Golden-breasted bunting	Emberiza flaviventris	Africa south of the Sahara
	Brown-rumped bunting	Emberiza affinis	Senegal to Sudan and Uganda
	Cabanis's bunting	Emberiza cabanisi	sub-Saharan Africa
	Chestnut bunting	Emberiza rutila	Siberia, northern Mongolia and north-eastern China.
	Tibetan bunting	Emberiza koslowi	Tibet
	Black-headed bunting	Emberiza melanocephala	Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Laos, South Korea and Malaysia
	Red-headed bunting	Emberiza bruniceps	Asia-Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia; Russian Federation (European Russia, Central Asian Russia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
	Yellow bunting	Emberiza sulphurata	Japan
	Black-faced bunting	Emberiza spodocephala	southern Siberia across to northern China.
	Masked bunting	Emberiza personata	Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Japan.
	Grey bunting	Emberiza variabilis	Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and northern Japan
	Pallas's reed bunting	Emberiza pallasi	northeast European Russia, north Kamchatka
	Ochre-rumped bunting	Emberiza yessoensis	eastern Mongolia, northeast China and Ussuriland
	Common reed bunting	Emberiza schoeniclus	Europe

Extinct species have been described:^[15]

• † Long-legged bunting (Emberiza alcoveri) (Late Quaternary)
• † Emberiza shaamarica (Late Pliocene of Central Asia)^[16]
• † Emberiza polgardiensis (Upper Miocene of Hungary)
• † Emberiza media (Pliocene of Hungary)
• † Emberiza parva (Pliocene of Hungary)
• †Emberiza gaspariskii (Pliocene of Hungary)
• †Emberiza bartoki (Middle Miocene of Hungary) (Nomen dubium) ^[16]

Emberiza pannonica from the upper Miocene of Hungary is also referred to this genus, but was later found to be a member of Muscicapidae.^[16]