| Catamenia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Plain-colored seedeater (Catamenia inornata) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Catamenia Bonaparte, 1850 |
| Type species | |
| Linaria analis d'Orbigny &Lafresnaye, 1837 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
Catamenia is agenus of atypicalseedeaters. Formerly placed in theEmberizidae, they are now placed in the tanager familyThraupidae.
These species are found in more open areas in the Andes and the adjacent lowlands. Males are mainly gray; females are brownish and streaked. Both sexes have a distinctive chestnutcrissum.[1]
The genusCatamenia was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalistCharles Lucien Bonaparte.[2] The name is from theAncient Greekkatamēnia meaning "menstrual" or "menstruous".[3] Thetype species was designated by the English zoologistGeorge Robert Gray as theband-tailed seedeater in 1855.[4][5] The genus now contains three species.[6]
This genus was traditionally placed with other seed-eating birds in the familyEmberizidae.[5] A series ofmolecular phylogenetic studies published in the first decade of the 21st century found that many genera in Emberizidae were more closely related to the fruit eating birds in the familyThraupidae.[7][8] In the reorganization of the family boundaries,Catamenia was one of several genera moved to Thraupidae.[6]
A genetic study of the Thraupidae published in 2014 found thatCatamenia issister to the genusDiglossa in thesubfamily Diglossinae. WithinCatamenia, the band-tailed seedeater is sister to aclade containing theplain-colored seedeater and theparamo seedeater.[9]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Catamenia analis | Band-tailed seedeater | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru |
 | Catamenia inornata | Plain-colored seedeater | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela |
 | Catamenia homochroa | Paramo seedeater | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela |
