Peucaea

Peucaea is a genus of American sparrows. The species in this genus used to be included in the genus Aimophila.

Peucaea
Cassin's sparrow (Peucaea cassinii)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Passerellidae
Genus:	Peucaea Audubon, 1839
Type species
Fringilla bachmani Audubon, 1833[1][a]
Species
See text

Taxonomy and species

A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2009 found that the genus Aimophila was polyphyletic.^[3] In the resulting reorganization to create monophyletic genera, eight species were moved from Aimophila to the resurrected genus Peucaea.^[4] Peucaea had been introduced by the Franco-American ornithologist John James Audubon in 1839.^[5] The genus name is from the Ancient Greek peukē meaning "pine-tree".^[6] The type species was designated by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1841 as Fringilla bachmani, a taxon now considered to be a subspecies of Bachman's sparrow with the trinomial name Peucaea aestivalis bachmani.^[4][7][8] Peucaea is the sister genus to Ammodramus within the family Passerellidae.^[9]

The genus contains the following 8 species:^[4]

• Rufous-winged sparrow, Peucaea carpalis
• Cinnamon-tailed sparrow, Peucaea sumichrasti
• Stripe-headed sparrow, Peucaea ruficauda
• Black-chested sparrow, Peucaea humeralis
• Bridled sparrow, Peucaea mystacalis
• Botteri's sparrow, Peucaea botterii
• Cassin's sparrow, Peucaea cassinii
• Bachman's sparrow, Peucaea aestivalis

Notes

1. Audubon spelled the specific epithet bachmani on the 1833 plate but bachmanii in the text published in 1834 to accompany the plate.^[1][2]