Red-and-black Grosbeak

About the Red-and-black Grosbeak

The red-and-black grosbeak (Periporphyrus erythromelas) is a species of bird in the family Cardinalidae, the cardinals, grosbeaks, and “tanager” allies. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.

The red-and-black grosbeak was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Loxia and coined the binomial Loxia erythromelas. The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek and means "blackish-red" or "red and

black"; eruthros means "red" and melas means "black". Gmelin based his description on the "black-headed grosbeak" that had been described and illustrated in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined specimens from Cayenne at the Leverian Museum in London.

The red-and-black grosbeak's further taxonomy is unsettled. By 2026 most taxonomic systems had placed it in genus Periporphyrus with the crimson-collared grosbeak (P. celaeno). However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) places it in genus Caryothraustes.

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