| Spotted tanager | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Ixothraupis |
| Species: | I. punctata |
| Binomial name | |
| Ixothraupis punctata (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
 | |
| Synonyms | |
Tanagra punctataLinnaeus, 1766 | |
Thespotted tanager (Ixothraupis punctata) is aspecies of bird in the tanager familyThraupidae.It is found inBolivia,Brazil,Ecuador,French Guiana,Guyana,Peru,Suriname, andVenezuela.Its naturalhabitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowlandforests and subtropical or tropical moistmontane forests.
In 1760 the French zoologistMathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the spotted tanager in hisOrnithologie based on a specimen collected in theWest Indies. He used the French nameLe tangara verd piqueté des Indes and the Latin nameTangara viridis indica punctulata.[2] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to thebinomial system and are not recognised by theInternational Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.[3] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalistCarl Linnaeus updated hisSystema Naturae for thetwelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.[3] One of these was the spotted tanager. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined thebinomial nameTanagra punctata and cited Brisson's work.[4] Thespecific namepunctata is Latin for "spotted".[5] The spotted tanager is now placed in thegenusIxothraupis.[6]
Fivesubspecies are recognised:[6]
