Blue-black Grassquit
Volatinia jacarina
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyThraupidae (Tanagers and Allies)
- GenusVolatinia
- SpeciesVolatinia jacarina (Blue-black Grassquit)
About the Blue-black Grassquit
The blue-black grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) is a small Neotropical bird in the family Thraupidae, the tanagers and allies. It is found in Mexico, every Central American country, every mainland South American country, in Trinidad and Tobago, and in Grenada.
The blue-black grassquit was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tanagra jacarina. Linnaeus based his description on the "Jacarni" that was described in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. The type locality is eastern Brazil. The specific epithet jacarina is derived from the Tupi language and was used for a type of finch. The blue-black grassquit is now the only species in the genus Volatinia that was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The genus name is a diminutive of the Latin volatus meaning "flying".
Within the tanager family Thraupidae the blue-black grassquit is in the subfamily Tachyphoninae and is a member of a clade that contains the genera Conothraupis and Creurgops. It was formerly placed with the buntings in the... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Darién National Park
Bananaquit
Coereba flaveola
Blue-gray Tanager
Thraupis episcopus
Palm Tanager
Thraupis palmarum
Plain-colored Tanager
Tangara inornata
White-shouldered Tanager
Loriotus luctuosus
Golden-hooded Tanager
Stilpnia larvata
Variable Seedeater
Sporophila corvina
Crimson-backed Tanager
Ramphocelus dimidiatus
Blue Dacnis
Dacnis cayana
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
Sporophila minuta
White-eared Conebill
Conirostrum leucogenys
Thick-billed Seed-Finch
Sporophila funerea
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Blue-black Grassquit in Darién National Park?
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-black Grassquit sighting in Darién National Park, based on 1,043 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Blue-black Grassquit in Darién National Park?
July has the highest sighting rate for Blue-black Grassquit in Darién National Park in our monthly data.