The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.
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 ICabanis's bunting – Emberiza cabanis
Golden-breasted bunting – Emberiza faviventris
Somali bunting – Emberiza polioplura
Cape bunting – Emberiza capensis
Lark-like bunting – Emberiza impetuani
Socotra bunting – Emberiza socotrana
Gosling's bunting – Emberiza goslingi
Cinnamon-breasted bunting – Emberiza tahapisi
Striolated bunting – Emberiza striolata
House bunting – Emberiza sahari
Clade IIYellow-throated bunting – Emberiza elegans
Slaty bunting – Emberiza siemsseni
Japanese reed bunting – Emberiza yessonsis
Common reed bunting – Emberiza schoenicus
Pallas's bunting – Emberiza pallasi
Yellow-browed bunting – Emberiza chrysophrys
Grey bunting – Emberiza variabilis
Tristram's bunting – Emberiza tristrami
Chestnut bunting – Emberiza rutila
Yellow-breasted bunting – Emberiza aureola
Little bunting – Emberiza pusilla
Rustic bunting – Emberiza rustica
Yellow bunting – Emberiza sulphurata
Black-faced bunting – Emberiza spodocephala
Clade IIICrested bunting – Emberiza lathami
Black-headed bunting – Emberiza melanocephala
Red-headed bunting – Emberiza bruniceps
Clade IVCorn 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
Cirl bunting – Emberiza cirlus
White-capped bunting – Emberiza stewarti
Pine bunting – Emberiza leucocephalos
Yellowhammer – Emberiza citrinella
Grey-necked bunting – Emberiza buchanani
Cinereous bunting – Emberiza cineracea
Cretzschmar's bunting – Emberiza caesia
Ortolan bunting – Emberiza hortulana
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 in the study.[14]
The genus contains 45 species.[3]
Extinct species have been described:[15]
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]
The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus Emberiza, the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills.
