| New World sparrow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| White-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Superfamily: | Emberizoidea |
| Family: | Passerellidae Cabanis, 1851 |
| Genera | |
Seetext | |
New World sparrows are a group of mainly New Worldpasserine birds, forming the familyPasserellidae. They are seed-eatingbirds with conical bills, brown or gray in color, and many species have distinctive head patterns.
Although they share the namesparrow, New World sparrows are more closely related to Old Worldbuntings than they are to theOld World sparrows (family Passeridae). New World sparrows are also similar in both appearance and habit tofinches, with which they sometimes used to be classified.
The genera now assigned to the family Passerellidae were previously included with the buntings in the familyEmberizidae. Aphylogenetic analysis of nuclear andmitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2015 found that the Passerellidae formed amonophyletic group that had an uncertain relationship to the Emberizidae.[1] Emberizidae was therefore split and the family Passerellidae resurrected.[2][3] It had originally been introduced, as the subfamily Passerellinae, by the German ornithologistJean Cabanis in 1851.[4]
TheInternational Ornithological Congress (IOC) recognizes 140 species in the family, distributed among these 30 genera. For more detail, seelist of New World sparrow species.[5]
Passerellidae
Below is a phylogeny based on a 2016 study by Robert Bryson and colleagues.[6][a]
| Passerellidae |
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Being a member ofEmberizoidea, New World sparrows have only nine easily visibleprimary feathers on each wing (they also have a 10th primary, but it is greatly reduced and largely concealed).[7] Despite their name, not all of the New World sparrows resemble the typical image of a sparrow. Species in theneotropics tend to be much larger with bold patterns of greens, reds, yellows, and grays. Those in theNearctic realm are smaller, with brown bodies streaked and with some head patterns.[8] Some even havesexual dimorphism such as thelark bunting andeastern towhee.
The New World sparrows are found throughout in the Americas, from their breeding ranges in the Arctictundra of North America to their year-round ranges in theSouthern Cone of South America. Given this huge expansive range, many species occupy different habitats such as grasslands, rainforests, temperate forests, anddeserts and xeric shrublands.[8] Those that breed in the northern parts of North America, such as thewhite-throated sparrow andLincoln's sparrow, migrate further southward into the continent during the winter, while others like thedark-eyed junco have been able to adapt to staying all year-round in some areas of North America. Most North American passerellid species usually migrate short distances. Some of the Southern Cone species move northward during autumn.[8] In the breeding season, sparrows of different species form small-to-medium flocks, as they do when foraging in the non-breeding season.
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