Linaria (bird)

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]

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