| Poephila | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Long-tailed finch,Poephila acuticauda | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Estrildidae |
| Genus: | Poephila Gould, 1842 |
| Type species | |
| Amadina acuticauda Gould, 1840 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
Poephila is an Australian genus ofestrildid finches.
The adults have pinkish underparts, buff or brown upperparts, a black tail and lower belly, and white rumps uppertail coverts and undertail coverts. Males and females closely resemble each other, although the male is a little larger.
These are birds of dry open grassland, occurring from the north-west to the eastern coast of Australia. They glean seed from the ground or seed-heads of grasses, occasionally supplementing their diet with insects.
The genusPoephila was introduced in 1842 by the English ornithologistJohn Gould in hisThe Birds of Australia in which he placed several species in the genus but did not specify atype species.[1][2] In February of 1842 at a meeting of the Zoological Society in London, Gould had designated the type asAmadina acuticauda Gould, thelong-tailed finch, but a report on this meeting was not published until November.[3] The genus name combines theAncient Greek ποιη/poiē meaning "grass" with φιλος/philos meaning "lover".[4]
The genus contains the following three species:[5]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Masked finch | Poephila personata | northern Australia, from the Kimberley, across the Top End, the Gulf country and the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, as far east as Chillagoe |
| Long-tailed finch | Poephila acuticauda | Australia, from the Kimberley region to the Gulf of Carpentaria. |
.jpg) | Black-throated finch | Poephila cincta | north-east Australia from Cape York Peninsula to central Queensland |
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
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